Zombie AU!
by cFairyWriter
Summary: A plague sweeps across Fiore and leaves everyone turned into zombies or dead! The story starts 2 months after the breakout to find the guild fighting for their very existence! You thought you knew the people of FairyTail but you've never seen them like this before and probably never will again! This is rated M for a reason people; lemons, explicit deaths and language abound!
1. Beginnings

**The events of this story take place a couple of years after the Grand Magic Games and any events after that arc in the Manga are ignored as this was written while they were going on. For reference this would make Romeo 15 and Wendy 14 when these events are happening. Unfortunately I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. That right goes to Mr. Mashima**

The town of Magnolia was quiet. There were no festivals making a clamour and the street vendors booths were all tattered and destroyed. A cold morning wind rushed through dirty alleys and broken windows. Unmaintained roofs creaked and groaned and leaked whenever it rained into houses and shops that were now uninhabited by living people. There were people though, even if they weren't exactly alive. The shuffling and groaning of hundreds of decayed bodies moving through the city were the only signs of what could be considered life, that was until a scream of pain echoed out into the clear blue sky.

"Bickslooooooooow" Lisanna cried out and ran through the small horde that covered her boyfriend, swinging her halberd in large deadly arcs that took them out while their limbs flailed in all directions. Blood and brain matter were flung everywhere as she took one more wild swing to make sure they were all in fact dead.

"Bickslow! Oh my gods no, please no." Tears had already started to form as she brought the sleeve back on his right arm revealing the chunk that had been taken out of his arm. The wound was deep, almost going right through the arm and the mage yelped in pain as Lisanna tried to cover it up with a piece of cloth.

"Shit. Wish I could use my babies. This would never have happened if I could use my babies."

"You'll be fine. I know you'll be fine please please please we both know you'll be okay."

"Lisanna. That isn't true." Bickslow took his left hand and stroked away the crying girls' tears. "Don't worry hun, it'll be okay. You'll live on for us."

"No! No I don't want to live on for anybody!" Lisanna held his arm tightly against her, desperately trying to come up with a plan while tears streaked her dirty face. "We'll hide it! Yes that's what we'll do! If she never finds out then-"

"You truly think I'd never find out?." A shadow loomed over the young couple making Lisanna shriek and cover her love with her body.

"Please. Please no."

"You know the rules."

"Lisanna. It's okay." Bickslow took his helmet off and brought his head back and placed it on the cement, looking up into the great blue expanse above him. "I want to see the sky one last time. Just give me that much."

"You can't kill him. Please you can't! I don't have much left please just leave him be! What would you do if it was him?!" There! Her last words got to the woman that stood above her. A single tear rolled down her left eye across the newly healed scar that would have given Laxus a run for his money. Lisanna went to push farther with her defence but the shadow promptly raised her sword above her head into a striking pose.

"This world can't sustain that kind of weakness anymore." The sword point drove itself straight through Bickslow's right eye ending the mages life swiftly and decisively. Lisanna just lay beside the body screaming bloody murder as the shadow pulled its sword out of the dead mages head sending brain matter and blood everywhere.

"Fuck you Lucy. Fuck you and your rules." Lisanna looked up at her leader with steel cold eyes waiting for the ever-ready reply that Lucy had become accustomed to using.

"If you don't like my way then you can fuck off." Lucy promptly turned on her heels and headed down the street, pulling a card out of her blue short-shorts as she walked.

"Bisca, give me a status report on our route home." The blonde mage waited a couple seconds as the sniper checked their position from the top of the Fairy Tail guild.

"Looks like you're good Luce, use the backs streets if you wanna be extra cautious but I don't see any resistance all the way here." The hollow reply came back through the card.

"Good, Lisanna and I will be there soon. Bickslow is out."

"Shit. By the way Lucy. I'm not sure but I think those cloak things are back. They watched the whole incident."

"Fuck. Next time you see them, give a warning shot." Lucy shoved the card forcefully back into her pocket and turned around to sneer at the white haired mage that was still crying on the ground behind her. "Get the fuck up, we're going home." With that she continued walking up the street, not caring if she was followed. Lisanna glared after her begrudgingly before succumbing to the facts and rising to her feet to follow. The whole way back to the guild she shot the back of Lucy's head with her eyes, not caring if she could feel the cold stares she was being given. With Lucy's hair cut short to just under her ears and the scabbard that hung off her left hip with her keys, this was not the Lucy that Lisanna had come to call family. No, this Lucy had accepted the harshness of the world all too quickly, especially after the disappearance of him. Him, another love that would never be seen again. If him and all the other Dragon Slayers hadn't just disappeared night before all this had all begun then none of it would have happened! People closer to her would still be alive! All to quickly did Lisanna realize that her nakama was being picked off much quicker than it should have and now there was only one left who truly held her love.

Flashback

The Strauss siblings ran through the cold early morning as the horde of dead moved slowly through the streets of Magnolia. Mirajane had opted out of her dress into jeans and a pink blouse while Lisanna had her blue jean short-shorts and green top alongside Elfman's black pants and, of course, no shirt. As they turned a corner to take a regular short cut through the alleys another horde of evil came washing out of the darkness, making the sisters scream as Elfman reacted. Changing his right arm to stone he bashed in the heads of the first couple of zombies but very quickly it became apparent to the three that there were just to many.

"Mira-nee, Lisanna, continue on." Elfman called to them as more and more of the zombies started to crawl and bite, taking chunks out of his body as he cursed and screamed. He put up a good fight though and the use of his magic helped as the zombies became more focused on the prey that was falling to their onslaught than the two still free. Crunching bones and bloody messes were thrown down into the pavement as Elfman used his Beast-Takeover to turn his arms into stone.

"Elfman no!" It was to late though, the Beast-Soul mage had disappeared under a massive pile of rotting, writhing flesh and had become nothing more than a distraction. Crying and wailing the white haired sisters ran hand in hand towards the guild, hoping to find safety among the numbers that were gathering at their second home.

Present Day- Lamia Scale

"Run! Get the fuck up the stairs now!" Jura fired off a blast of magic into a swarm of zombies as his guild members charged up the stairs to the roof. Screams and the sounds of fighting came from the lobby as more and more of the horde got their teeth into members.

"I can't believe they broke through! How the fuck did they break through?!" Lyon shot an arrow from behind Jura into the head of a zombie that had escaped the last wave down the stairs.

"Sherry!" Lyon turned around to the pink-haired girl that was cowering at the top of the stairs wailing with all her might. "Get to your fiancee and let them know what's going on! Hur- AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH" The mage screamed in pain as the swarm finally overwhelmed Jura and got to him, sinking their teeth into his flesh and dragging him back down the stairs into them.

"RUUUUUNNNNNN" A still crying Sherry picked herself up off the balcony and ran while Lyon thrashed and screamed in pain as pieces of his flesh were torn off, throwing herself out a window and landing in the bushes below.

SNAP

"Shit!" She wailed and hobbled along, ignoring the pain that was firing through her leg. She needed to get to Blue Pegasus. She needed to get to Ren.

**The beginnings of a new story! What's going on and why is Lucy...well...acting not like Lucy? Weekly instalments are abound and life will definitely not get any easier for the members of FairyTail! Reviews and comments are more than welcomed!**


	2. Lucy

Bisca groaned with stiffness and lowered her rifle as Lucy and Lisanna made their way up the street to the guild alone. Looking through a top window back into the guild she spied her daughter Asuka playing with her doll in the corner beside her father Alzack. Resetting her hat Bisca kept watch on all the streets in case the horde came back. The last time they had come around was a month ago and that had been an event that none of them would ever forget.

Flashback

"Master noooooo!" Bisca screamed at the top of her lungs, firing into the stinking horde that surrounded Makarov.

"Get back child! I don't care what happens just GET BACK!" Makarov grew to a size not seen since the day that Acnologia had attacked Tenrou Island. Throwing punch after punch into the mass horde as it bit down on him it was like watching a small child get attacked by ants while playing in the back garden. The only difference with these ants were their stinging bites would end his life instead of send him home crying.

Bisca was the last one still outside with Alzack. Everyone else including their daughter had made it safely into the building, well, anybody that was still alive anyways. Her and Alzack stood at the gate to the guild continuing to fire off their guns as Makarov covered the entrance to it with his gigantic body.

"Close the gate Gods damnit close the gate!"

"Master please not without you!" Alzack fired off another shot as he slowly reached for the gate winch. Bisca looked over at him wild-eyed.

"You can't do that! Not without the master!"

"Bisca you let him close that gate now!" His eyes glistening with tears Alzack fired a shot into the winch and watched as the gate slammed shut onto at least three other zombies, impaling them from skull to groin. All Bisca and Alzack could do after that was watch as the man who had helped marry them, raise Asuka like a grandfather and be a father to them slowly succumbed to the horde that flowed over him, all in the name of his children. With one last roar of definace Makarov charged down the street like a rhino with ants assaulting it, leading the horde away from the guild with the magic he was giving off.

"Carry on this guild my children." The last words of Makarov died away underneath the squelching of decayed bodies and the roaring of a giant old man as he squished said bodies. Bisca cried and screamed as Alzack picked her up bridal style like their wedding night and carried her away from the scene and towards the closed doors of their newly old home.

Present Day

Lucy strode up to the gate that separated her guild from the real world that they now inhabited. Sitting, or rather sleeping, in a chair beside the repaired winch was a snoring Wakaba with the stench of his cigar filling the air around him and barely masking the stench of the skeletons that sat staked into the gate.

"Wakaba you dumb shit wake up!" Lucy swung her scabbard through the bars of the gate and smacked his shins sending a yelping Wakaba off his chair and down onto the cobblestone. Swearing softly to himself Wakaba pulled himself off the ground and started bringing the gate up for the two arrivals, wandering his eyes up and down the young bodies that impatiently waited to get back into safety.

"Where's Bickslow?" Lucy kept walking by but Lisanna stopped and with a great sob threw her arms around the old man wailing tears into his white shirt. "Ssshhhhh child it's okay it's okay. Please be quieter or you'll get more to come here!" Lucy just left her there and kept on walking across the courtyard and threw the doors open with a forceful shove sending everybody who was sitting down jumping to their feet, weapons in their hands ready to go.

"Glad to see you're all getting better without the magic." Lucy's black boots echoed ominously on the wooden floors of the guild and she didn't even return the ever cheery wave from Mira behind the bar as she made her way to the table that had the remaining Raijinshu sitting at it drinking from mugs. "Bickslow got bitten, I stabbed my sword through his head. Lesson better be learned for the rest of you." With that she kept on walking, going by Gray and Juvia who both had their bows sitting beside them on their table, quivers full and sitting on their backs.

"Could have been nicer with it Luce." Gray didn't look up from making more arrows as Lucy stopped and glared into the back of the Ice-Make mages head.

"I can't be nice, not anymore." She promptly continued on through the rest of the survivors that made up FairyTail.

"Lu-chan..." Levy looked at the chair that sat below the stairs that Lucy had been heading towards. The small blue haired mage sat with a small hatchet on either leg, twirling a knife between her fingers. Her blue hair was a ragged mess, brought back in a bandana and her yellow dress stitched together in places to keep it from falling apart.

"What do you want Levy."

"Please just, what happened?" The small girl tearfully looked up at her best friend, or at least what was left of her.

"We were coming back, Lisanna got blind sided from a rogue pack in an alley and Bickslow went in like an idiot to save her. Got bitten and went down. I stopped his transformation before it could start." Lucy didn't wait for an answer, she didn't want to talk about it. "Don't let anybody up here." Levy just nodded and moved her chair in front of the stairs as Lucy moved her way up the stairs. When she got to the top she turned right and looked over the balcony at her guild. Most of the tables had been turned into boarding for the door and windows, leaving lots of space for the hammocks that hung from the ceiling and lined most of the right hall. The rest of the tables were dispersed sparingly around so that most of the guild members had either squished themselves onto the remaining benches or had propped themselves up on the floor. She counted the people there, excluding Gildarts and the Dragon Slayers the guild had lost lost nine; Chico, Joey, Wan, Vijeeter, Macao, Nab, Bickslow, Elfman and of course, Makarov.

"Do I count Erza and Laki in that list now as well?" Sighing deeply Lucy tapped the wooden railing twice with her fist and confidently strode into her room, formerly Makarov's office. Closing the door softly she threw the scabbard with her keys into the corner at the foot of her bed and moved to the desk she had pushed up against the wall with the mirror from her room propped up against it. Sitting down she took a special cream and slowly applied it to the scar on her left eye, wincing as the stinging ointment set itself into the scar.

Twirling the cap back onto the container of the medicine she stared at the girl in the mirror she only had to assume was her. The raggedly cut hair, the closing wound on her left eye, the hardened look inside those said eyes that had once been filled with such love and hope for her friends, everything that she had become since the disappearance of the Dragon Slayers. She laughed softly, realizing that she had turned into her Edolas doppelganger from the way she did things down to her becoming the leader that she had had to become. She wasn't supposed to get the cream wet after application, Mira was always getting mad at her for that, but the tears came down before she could stop them. It wasn't fair that she had become this way. She was supposed to be with Natsu in their new home not leading a post-apocalyptic FairyTail! The tears flowed freely now; there was no way to stop them. Running to her bed she threw herself down into the soft comforting blankets and screamed into the pillow. She screamed all the anger and the frustration that had been haunting since she had had to kill Bickslow. She screamed out her fear of failing, her exhaustion of the duties she had and most of all she screamed for Natsu. Natsu was who she screamed for most. She wanted his arms around her again, she wanted to hear him say that he loved her again. All Lucy wanted was him.

"Natsu you idiot. How could you leave me?"

**The guild is in shambles, barely surviving. Lucy seems to have become a leader but in all this mess where are the Dragon Slayers and, maybe more importantly, where's Erza? Reviews are welcomed!**


	3. Levy

Levy sat in the dark of the guild peeling an apple with her knife. The soft snoring of her sleeping guildmates was the only noise that filled her silent watch. She leant forward to look over the balcony outside Lucy's room and down onto the hammocks that housed her nakama. There was Lisanna sleeping peacefully with Mira in the hammock closest to the bar, much to the chagrin of Freed who had had to move back to his original spot right beside the door. He hadn't put up any kind of fight when he had gone to go to bed and had found Lisanna in his spot, but he seemed a little upset that his own support beam for his best friends death was right now sleeping with her sister instead of comforting him. Levy did feel bad for him, she knew what it felt like to lose somebody you loved. Slicing the apple she let her mind wander back to Gajeel and as with every other time she did so, the tears started to form.

Flashback

"Gajeel, where are you going?" Levy sat up from their bed and stared after the Dragon Slayer who was staring out the window of his bedroom fully clothed. The cold wind coming through the window didn't stop her from getting out completely naked and moving towards her love. "Come back to bed, whatever it is can be dealt with in the morning." Gajeel turned to look at her; admiring the beauty of the small girl in the moonlight.

"Sorry Shrimp. Something's calling."

"What do you mean calling? Gajeel I can't hear anything!"

"I know you can't but I can." Gajeel stopped and turned back to the window, quickly sniffing the air. "Smells like Salamander and the others are already on the move as well. Now I definitely have to go." Levy was on the verge of tears now as Gajeel propped himself on the windowsill of his room, hunching his legs low and readying himself for the jump.

"What about us?! Aren't you at least going to tell when you're coming back?!"

"Shrimp...I don't even know where I'm going. I feel it though; something's changing. Go to Lucy's and stay there for a while. Whatever happens I'll be back. I don't know when but we'll all be back. Goodbye Levy." With that the Dragon Slayer jumped from the windowsill of his house and to the roof beside him, joining three other figures that had started a run from the other end of the row of houses. The four Slayers ran off into the night seen only by the moon and a shivering, naked Levy who stood crying into the cold night in front of the open window.

Present Day

Levy shook her head violently and cleared away the tears that had started welling themselves in her eyes. She didn't have time to be weak, especially if Jet and Droy were just below her in their hammock. The last thing she needed was those two fussing over her while they tried to show that they were ready to protect her at all costs. Flicking another slice into her mouth tilted her head down to the right, listening intently for any signs of Lucy's nightmares. The poor girl had been having them for a month since Erza had gone to look for the Dragon Slayers by herself. It had become Levy's job to wake her before the screams from said nightmares woke the rest of the guild from their slumber almost every night. The apocalypse as a drunk Cana had started calling it, had turned Levy into a barely functioning insomniac so it only seemed appropriate that she was put on what had been so nicely coined 'Lucy Duty' every night.

Just as she finished the last slice of apple a loud whimper came from behind the closed door. Loudly sighing Levy got up to put her friend back to sleep. Her black jeans outlined the curves of her hips as she walked gracefully towards the door, wiping the knife clean on her tattered yellow dress while opening it and moving towards her whimpering leader. Sitting down on the edge of Lucy's bed Levy started singing softly, stroking her short blonde hair as she did so. After a couple minutes the noises became smaller and smaller until they were almost non-existent. The nightmare had been replaced by something sweeter from the singing, evidenced only by the calmness of Lucy's breath and the smile that had spread itself across her face.

"Love you Natsu." Lucy rolled over and faced the wall as Levy got up from the bed and moved back outside the room to her chair, retaking her watch before nodding off into a very rare sleep.

"I love you too Lu-chan"

Elsewhere

Making supper wasn't as hard as it used to be after a month of practise. The red-haired mage hobbled her way around the kitchen of Porlyuscia's hastily made kitchen grabbing the pots and pans that she would need. Grimacing with pain Erza reached down to her right leg and tweaked a bolt that held it to what was left of her thigh while stirring the simmering porridge on the stove. She put on a weak smile as the door swung open and four cloaked people strode into Porlyuscia's home, now their home as well.

"How did it go?" Erza turned to the Dragon Slayers as they pulled their cloaks off and hung them from the coat hangar beside the door.

"Bickslow died." Gajeel muttered as he threw himself down into a chair around their table. "Got himself in deep shit for protecting Lisanna so Lucy put a sword through his skull."

"Shut up Gajeel." Laxus walked to one of five matts laying on the floor while taking his shirt off, not letting the others see the tears that were falling onto his chest. He was much fitter after the two months of training here with Porlyuscia, they all were. Wendy had grown to just under Natsu's height and because of the training she had undergone, grown well sized breasts that surpassed Levy. Natsu himself had bulked out slightly with the amount of muscle that he had grown; enough to make him slightly larger but not enough to make an incredibly noticeable difference. Gajeel and Laxus were the only two who hadn't grown in size though their muscles had become much more toned and refined compared to what they used to be.

"Listen Sparky I don't take orders from you." The air around the Slayers suddenly pulsed with energy that Erza had no chance of even competing with as the Slayers stood in a diamond all facing inwards on each other. The wind blew through Wendy's long blue pigtails, fire raced from Natsu's hair and down his arms to rest on his knuckles, a volt of lightning shot itself menacingly from the roots of Laxus' hair and iron grew from Gajeel's fingertips to cover his knuckles all while Erza stood by the stove waiting for the inevitable.

"Will you idiots knock it off." A cloud of smoke filled the room in the centre of the Slayers' formation and from it emerged Porlyuscia. "I don't care if you can hide your magic from them now, I don't need you moron humans blowing up my house over something as stupid as your emotions." The pulsing went away leaving nothing but silence and the bubbling porridge that Erza had been cooking.

"Another death today. Did I hear that correctly?" The Slayers all nodded. "I checked on the problem today and it seems that "it" has turned its attention away from the Blue Pegasus guild and is heading back here. I fear that we might need to reveal you all sooner than expected which means I need you to stop destroying my house! It also means we need to train harder. Wendy, this means I need to teach you one last thing before you go." The small Dragon Slayer nodded, eager to learn anything she could from the older woman.

"Now eat and then sleep. Tomorrow we do double what we've been doing. It seems that I may not have time to teach you all you will need."

**I'm feeling generous today so here's one last friday update before this goes weekly. What is "it" that Porlyuscia is talking about? What's going to happen when "it" comes back and, more importantly, what will the reaction be when the Slayers reveal themselves to the guild? Reviews are welcome!**


	4. Church

**Hey guys quick authors note here. I'd love to hear what y'all think about this story so far. Comments, reviews, suggestions, guesses, questions about writing it, anything like that and I'll personally answer if I can without giving any plot points away. Thanks guys, hope you're enjoying it so far :)**

"Lucy! How are you?" Mira waved cheerfully from the bar as Lucy made her way down the stares, rubbing her right eye sleepily. Mira could see the red puffiness that broke through from underneath the eyelids; Lucy had been crying again.

"Im fine Mira. Who's out today for food collection?" Mira sighed sadly, Lucy had never returned the cheeriness, not since this had all started but Mira continued to try and get something out of her in hopes that one day she would in fact smile.

"Jet, Droy and Levy will be coming with you today." Lucy just nodded and sat down at the bar, grabbing the bowl of oatmeal Mira put in front of her and forcing herself to eat.

"Alrighty then. Alzack!" From the other side of the guild hall the scruffy black haired wizard promptly dropped down from his hammock and strutted over to where Lucy sat. "I wanna head East today, towards the church. Map out a route with the least resistance will you?"

"Sounds good." The mage made a small bow and went over to his wife's hammock, grabbing the rifle beside it and kissing his daughters forehead before making his way up the ladder that worked went up to the roof.

"Lucy why do you keep going out for food? We have enough in the stores now to last us at least two years with the way we're rationing it!" Mira could already guess what the reason was but she wanted to hear it from Lucy herself.

"Mira we both know it's not for food anymore. It's for Natsu and the others. Plus any other survivors that might be out there." Lucy never looked up from her oatmeal, staring down into the grainy breakfast like she was reading the future. "Warren! Any news from any of the other guilds or still dark?" The resident telepath woke lazily from his hammock.

"Nothing yet Luce, I thought something came through at about four this morning but it was probably nothing."

"I don't care what you think. Follow that lead and see if you can rematch the signal to it. You and Cana are the only two that can use small amounts of magic without alerting those fucking monsters and I want you doing so until you're dead!"

"Yes ma'am!" A terrified Warren threw himself from his hammock and ran over to the bar to eat and restore his energy for what was going to be another long day of telepathic searching.

"Where the fuck are Jet and Droy." Lucy glared around the room until she spied the two already waiting for her beside the door with Levy sitting in a chair beside them sharpening one of her hatchets. Jet twirled his two hunting knives like some western gunslinger in his hands while Droy checked the blades on either end of his spear, making sure that they were nice and sharp. Since the zombies had arrived and Lucy's rationing of the food had begun, Droy had lost so much weight that he was back down to his pre-Tenrou size and was now just as fast and agile as Jet was before he used his magic. Both wore white shirts with simple brown trousers, they belonged to Jet but since the group hadn't had much time to shop Droy had to settle for them after his considerable weight change.

"Lucy will you shut the hell up I'm trying to sleep." Cana raised her head from her hammock only a couple of feet from where Mira's sat beside the bar. Dark bags sat under her red eyes proving once again that she had been crying all night while in yet another drunken stupor.

"You know what Cana? I'll shut up. In fact you won't have to hear me until the end of the day because now, you're on guard duty!" Cana groaned and rolled out the bed, grabbing the mug of coffee that Mira held out for her as she picked up her own bow and quiver to follow Lucy to the doors. "Wakaba? Go back to bed." The grateful older man who had been waiting by the door nodded silently and wobbled back to bed with a grateful groan. His row of three hammocks held a snoring Romeo in one and an eerily silent Evergreen, who usually snored louder than Elfman ever had, in the last.

"Levy. Let's go. I wanna be back by supper." Lucy pushed the doors open and was met with a beautiful sun that lit up the town around her and, for a small second, made her feel like the world was back to normal.

Flashback

"Natsuuuuuuu why are we heeeeeeere" Lucy whined at her boyfriend as she was grudgingly led up a large hill just outside the town of Magnolia. Birds called from the trees above, the sun shone warmly down on the couple and best of all that stupid flying cat Happy was no where to be seen.

"Come on Luce it's just a little farther!" The salmon haired Dragon Slayer carried a large pack on his back but even after an hour of walking he hadn't even broken a sweat. "Oh man! We're finally here!" Natsu stopped and threw the pack on the ground stretching his back and groaning. Lucy looked up from where she had collapsed and admired Natsu's toned abs that were showing through his opened blue vest. His signature scarf flapped gently against his back with the breeze that ran its way through the trees on top of the hill and he reached out his hand to grab Lucy's, pulling her up onto her feet to see the view that he had worked so hard to get her up her to see. Gasping Lucy looked out across the whole town as the sun shone down on the two lovers. In the far background of the town the guild could be seen towering over the sleepy Magnolia. The church stood not far away in its glory and marked the two landmarks that made the people of the town truly feel safe. Still in awe of the view she barely noticed Natsu wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a hug so that he could enjoy the view with her.

"Natsu it's...it's beautiful." She looked up at the one she loved with teary eyes, glad that he had dragged her, complaints and all, up here. "I love you." The words escaped her before she could hold them back. They stood there, staring out onto at Magnolia for minutes together as the three words lingered between them.

"I love you too."

That same night Natsu disappeared from her bed and into the night forever.

Present Day

Lucy and her group worked their way through the path that Alzack had sketched out for them towards the church; the farthest away that he could see with the rifle scope.

"I hope we can find some more weapons like at the police station, or at least some more food." Droy looked through the shop windows as they walked hoping to not see exactly what he was supposed to be looking out for.

"If we find something we find something, if not fuck it." Droy kept his mouth shut all the way to the church after Lucy's small outburst. They kept to the alleys and sideroads, never exposing themselves to the main streets that held all the easily breakable shop windows that waited for them in silent ambush. When they finally got to the church after taking so many backroads to avoid needless conflict with straggling zombies the group bade its way up the stone walls, shimmying with ease to the roof of the once holy building. Jet and Droy were much faster than the two girls because of their height though and because of this took about half the time the girls took to reach the top. Reaching the top they could see all of Magnolia from where they stood and used it as the basis for their next route. Jet and Droy had pulled out some snacks and were munching down as Lucy and Levy looked over a map and matched it to the town below them, planning their next route.

"We should keep heading East, see if there's anything there that could-"

"How about not heading anywhere." The group turned with weapons all drawn towards the centrepiece of the roof, the bell tower. There sat a figure covered by a blue cloak with staffs strapped to his back. The bottom half of his face was covered by a green scarf which he promptly removed to reveal the red tattoo that went down the right side of his face. "And instead getting ready for what's coming."

"Jellal." Lucy growled.

**A new player emerges with some not so good news! How will the survivors react? Reviews and comments are welcome!**


	5. Cana

She knew she wasn't supposed to be drinking while on gate duty. Well technically she wasn't supposed to be drinking at all since this had all started but Cana was so past caring about that that liquor seemed to be the only way out. Besides she was a much better shot when she was buzzed, everybody knew that.

THUNK

The arrow yet again fit perfectly to the centre of the bullseye and before it had settled Cana had another one knocked into her bow ready to send down the courtyard into the practise dummy's head. Her magic had always been long ranged so when the group had raided the police precinct and found a vault full of weapons she had immediately been attracted to the bows and their incredibly large stash of arrows to go with them. Well, her, Gray and Juvia anyways. All being long-ranged mages they had very quickly picked up on how to use their weapons, even more quickly when they factored in that they couldn't use their magic anymore.

THUNK

"Cana! We're at the church. There's been a slight...change of plans. We're heading back with a new member." Lucy's voice came over the card that sat 24/7 on the chair beside the gate winch, letting her know what was going on in the outside world. Next to Warren's telepathy the card communication seemed to be the only magic that didn't attract the zombies. Cana just grunted and went back to target practise, she didn't care what Lucy did anymore just as long as she didn't get anybody else killed. Cana had liked Lucy before this had all happened but now?

THUNK

Now she just wished the practise dummy had short blonde hair. If he was still here then there was no way Lucy would be talking to her they way she did. If he was still here, Cana wouldn't have had to cry herself to sleep at night.

Flashback

He entered her quickly and purposefully, giving Cana no time to prepare herself as Laxus drove his member in. Screaming in ecstasy she Cana dug her left hand nails into his back while clutching his blonde hair with her right, wrapping her legs nimbly around his waist and riding the storm that was her lover. Sweating and panting she twisted her legs and flipped them over so that she was on top and rode her Dragon Slayer, grasping her large breasts and screaming as he lay there with his hands on her hips controlling her speed. With a final gasp Laxus thrust his hips upwards and into her, sending Cana screaming into an orgasm as they both came at the same time before she collapsed onto his chest, his cock still pulsing inside of her.

"Fuck."

"Kinda just did that." Cana giggled at her own joke, enjoying the feeling of his large member still inserted in her as she lay on top of him.

"No shit but-" Laxus stopped talking and quickly threw his girlfriend off of him and back into the bed. Cana groaned at the empty feeling that his gone member left her with as Laxus got up from the bed and looked out the window.

"The hell are you doing? Come back to bed! We could go for round three if you wanted" The forever horny Cana twirled her long brown hair in her left hand while playing with her breast with the other, waiting for Laxus to turn around so she could turn him on but the Slayer just stood stark naked and staring at the window.

"Cana. I need to go." Laxus walked calmly towards the large oak dresser on the other side of his room and opened up the top drawer to take a pair of boxers out.

"Go? Go where? Laxus where are you going?!"

"I...I'm not sure I just...I just need to go. Natsu and Wendy are already on the move." Cana didn't understand what was going on and she really didn't want to.

"You bastard you can't just go! What about us? What about the guild?"

"Cana just...I'll be back alright. Right now though something is just, I don't know, it's calling to me! I need to go now! Head to Lucy's for a couple days alright? Oh and Cana? I love you." With that the Lightning Dragon Slayer, wearing his black pants and shirt with his signature headphones sitting around his neck, jumped out of the window and joined the two Slayers waiting for him on the opposite roof.

"Laxus? LAXUS!" Cana screamed naked from the bed out the window but for all her protests the Slayer never returned.

Present Day

THUNK

With the last arrow burying itself deep into the dummy's head Cana paced over to it and started pulling her arrows out, breasts bouncing with each pull in their bikini. She turned and walked back to the gate to start again but before she could something caught her eye. Two small figures were moving their way down the street towards guild, one blue, one white and one grey.

"Happy! Carla! Lily!" Turning to the guild Cana fired three shots into the door making a small thud that sounded like knocking into each one. Turning back she used the homemade winch to crank the gate to the guild inch by inch upwards and, locking it in place, ran towards the two cats that were coming towards them hoping the others would be out of the guild by the time they came back.

"I can't believe it! You're all alive! Where have you-" a zombie careened itself into her from a side street grabbing for her with gnashing teeth. Screaming in shock Cana grabbed for an arrow from the quiver on her back and jabbed it through the things ear and closed her mouth before she gagged as blood and pus came oozing from the zombies mouth and eyes. The initial attackers weight knocked her down onto the ground though leaving her completely exposed as two more came limping out of the same alley. One was almost a skeleton with only random pieces of flesh still clinging desperately to the bone, the other a squishy specimen that would have most anatomists ready to point out different muscles. She screamed as they tried to get to her, flailing her arms at the walking death that was trying to kill her. Just as they had gotten her arms was when their attack went wrong.

A whistling sound filled Cana's ears and two seconds later the zombie that still had muscles head blew up in an explosion of blood and brains, covering Cana with gore. The second one looked up in a daze at the headless body of its friend before its skull imploded as a blue streak shot by.

Panting and crying Cana looked up the street to where Carla stood watching carefully. Turning her head the other way she saw Happy and Lily standing side by side, Lily holding his special sword and Happy holding two bloodied daggers that fit his paws creepily perfect. Without saying a word they both put their weapons in the scabbards on their backs and went to work helping Cana get the bodies off of her. Glancing at the blue cat Cana gasped as she realized that his right ear was completely torn in half giving him a menacing demeanour as he cleaned his fur. They were both covered in blood but that wasn't what terrified the crying girl as she got up off the cobblestones to her feet. It was the look in Happy's eyes, the same look that Lucy carried with her, a look of pain.

**I know you've been wondering it and now they're back! Where have the Exceeds been and why do they seem so different? Reviews and comments are welcome!**


	6. Jellal

Lucy and the rest of her team got back to the guild before noon dragging an exhausted Jellal with them. The man hadn't said much since their meeting at the church rooftop and when he was questioned by Lucy all he would tell her was that "he'd tell them at the guild." For anybody else Lucy would probably have cut a finger off for every time they refused to answer, but seeing Jellal had put her off in a way that Levy hadn't seen since the death of Makarov. In fact since deciding to head back Lucy hadn't really said anything and had insisted on taking the straight route back so that she could take out the few random packs of zombies that roamed the blocks around their base of operations. Walking up to the gates the group was surprised to find Romeo waiting for them at the winch. He flicked his orange scarf back to give his arms room to move in his brown sleeveless trench coat.

"Where the hell is Cana?"

"She had to go get cleaned up after being the welcoming party for Happy, Carla and Lily." The groups eyes widened as Romeo started bringing the gate up.

"They're back? Thank gods!" Lucy barely waited for the gate to leave the ground before she was bending to go underneath it and get inside the guild.

"Woah woah woah when did Mystogan suddenly get back?!" Jellal looked over at Romeo and flipped his hood off.

"I came back with news. You might wanna come inside to hear it." Romeo nodded and started to bring the gate back down so that he could lock up and follow them into the hall. Turning around they followed the group into the guild and found most of the people in there had already formed a large circle around the three Exceeds but, upon seeing Jellal enter with Lucy and the others, quickly dispersed to let them through.

"Woah! Lucy! You look like the you in Edolas!" Happy's torn right ear twitched as he looked Lucy up and down.

"Yeah well I'm not the only one who looks different. Where the fuck have you been." The two stared each other down for a couple seconds as Levy brought a chair over for Lucy to sit in so that she could get eye to eye with the Exceeds. After several tense seconds they both finally broke and the little blue cat threw himself into Lucy's arms, balling great tears of joy all the while. The guild looked on smiling while the two friends cried openly into each other. After a couple of minutes they finally wiped away the tears and Lucy set him back on the table, ready to hear his story.

"We were coming back from the Exceed camp when these scary creatures came out of nowhere and attacked us. Lily was the only one who could fight for a long time but after one of the scratched my ear off I finally had to change as well." Lily nodded his agreement to the history of events before Happy continued the explanation.

"The only way to get them to stop following us was to not use our wings so we had to walk!" Even if he looked different Lucy smiled inwardly as Happy talked, he still expressed himself the same way and it seemed to help calm everybody down. "Lucy...where's Natsu and the other Slayers?"

The tension that filled the air could have been cut with a knife as the Exceeds waited patiently for an answer.

"They're...well...we don't actually know where they are. They just up and vanished about two days before all this happened." Happy just looked down thoughtfully as Lucy explained the situation to them.

"He'll be back. They'll all be back." Carla finally spoke and Happy just nodded.

"Aye! They're all alive! They have to be!" The spirits of the room raised a little with the little cats encouragement.

"Well my turn I guess." The survivors turned and looked at Jellal who had set himself up on a stool at the bar beside Mira.

"Damn right your turn." Lucy glared.

"Your're not gonna like it."

Flashback

They had swarmed the town before anybody could even react. No alarms had been sprung, no warnings had been sent in on horseback and nobody had had any time to prepare. The rotting, stinking creatures moved through the attacking anybody that moved. Running for their lives Meredy and Jellal kept going through street after street firing off their magic trying unsuccessfully to keep the monsters at bay. The more they mowed down though, the more they had to deal with.

"The roofs! Get to the roofs!" Jellal ran to a pile of crates and hauled himself onto a balcony, turning around to grab the terrified girl that followed him. She jumped on the crates and grabbed his hand, smiling up at him as he went to pull. That was the last thing he saw of her though. A random part of the horde broke off and down the alley swarming itself over the poor girl as she screamed in terror. Biting and clawing they ripped her down into their masses and began their feast, pulling random strips off of her as Jellal watched in horror from his balcony. Her screams echoed up to his ears as the horde continued their meal keeping her alive by accident until finally one of them found her head and brought its teeth down hungrily into her right eye, silencing her with one fell swoop as the shock to her system finally shut her body down. Jellal could do nothing but turn away and start climbing to the roof, not stopping until he had found the shadow of a chimney to hide behind and cry.

He cried for what seemed like hours as the screams of random people echoed throughout the town and the horde moved itself through it. Finally, after a whole day of feasts, the creatures had gotten through every street and every open house to consume every life that had been there, leaving only small pockets of one or two people and the now animated corpses of those they'd feasted on trailing behind them. Jellal jumped from roof to roof until he finally came to his and Meredy's house and breaking his way in through an upstairs window he moved to the closet and found himself the Mystogan outfit he had used during the Grand Magic Games.

"This attack was too methodical. Something is leading them somewhere and I want to know what and where." Throwing on the cloak Jellal moved back to the roof and began his Crusade towards the horde on the rooftops of the now ghostly silent town. "And once I figure out where, I head to FairyTail for help."

Present Day

"So where the fuck is this...horde as you call it?" Lucy's feet were propped up on the table and her chair leant back as she listened to Jellal's story. The Exceeds had gone to the infirmary to sleep; they seemed like they needed it.

"Well where they went was the easy part. Being a wave of death following them wasn't that hard. They went to Mermaid Heel's town first and then to Blue Pegasus. I don't know why but they seem to have been focusing on the towns and cities with the higher profile guilds. Problem is word has gotten around that you guys are still in what would be considered working condition right now so the one who runs the horde has turned them right around and is heading back this way. I give you about two weeks before they're here." The guild was silent before somebody, Romeo, finally asked what they all didn't want to know.

"So who exactly is running this horde?" With a large sigh Jellal took a large swig of the beer that had been put beside him by Mira during his talk.

"Zeref." The name hung in the air like a bad smell as the guild contemplated what they had just been told.

"Alright so the needing of Slayers is a definite." Evergreen looked around for confirmation. Jellal nodded his agreement.

"That's another thing; the Dragon Slayers. I don't know where they are exactly but I have a few hunches as to where they might be."

"We've checked all the usual places where they like to go in town but so far nothing." Lucy dismissed Jellal as soon as he brought the Slayers up. She didn't want to think about them, not right now.

"There's one place you haven't checked. Outside of the city. I wanna check it out tomorrow if that's okay. By the way where's Erza?"

**Does Jellal really know where the Slayers are? Or is it just a hunch? The next chapter reveals the story of a very important mage; Erza! Reviews and comments are welcomed!**


	7. Erza

"Stupid leg falling apart. Can't make anything work properly without a fucking Slayer around." Erza was having issues. A bolt had come loose on her right leg and fallen off somewhere and now the whole thing was slowly coming apart. She glared accusingly around Porlyuscia's house before finally seeing the glint of metal from the sun catching the pesky thing through the window. "There you are you son of a bitch." Erza brought herself up off the chair she was sitting in but just when she took a step the rest of the leg came crumbling apart. With a yelp the once strongest mage in FairyTail came crashing down onto the wooden planks of the house, cursing her luck and every god that she had ever heard of while metal pieces clanged and rolled their way around the house.

"Fucking Natsu and fucking zombies and fucking Gajeel and his fucking contraption just...FUCK!" She summoned a spear and in her furious anger drove it straight down into the woodwork, using it to prop herself up and back onto the chair. She brought her head down into her hands and tried as hard as possible to stop the tears that were forming in her eyes. She hated this. It wasn't fair what she had been turned into. She would probably need help for the rest of her life and even if they did find a way to make the problem leg permanent and unbreakable, there was no way she would ever be the same again.

Flashback

She stood in front of the guild in her chest plate and blue skirt, her sword strapped casually to her left hip. Taking a deep breath she made her announcement.

"I'm going to find the Dragon Slayers." The guild looked up from their mourning of Makarov who hadn't died more than a week before.

"What?! Erza no! You can't leave!" Lucy already had tears in her eyes as she moved towards her friend. "I mean. What if they come back? What if the Happy and Carla and Lily come back?"

"We haven't heard anything from them in a month I don't they're coming back; same with the Slayers. If we want answers as to where they've gone then we need to do it ourselves." Erza didn't wait for the rest of the guild to protest and instead started walking towards the doors. Lucy went to follow but a crying Cana grabbed her from behind and held her back.

"Erza please! Don't leave! Don't fucking leave me! Not like Natsu did! PLEASE!" The wails of the blonde followed her all the way out of the guild and most of the way down the block before Erza was left alone with only the random shuffling that came from a pack of slow zombies behind her and her boots echoing off the cobblestones. Gajeel's house was her destination, that was where she would start the hunt for the Slayers. It was a little closer to mid day than she would have liked by the time Erza reached the roof across from Gajeel's house; the last place Levy had said she'd seen him before he disappeared with the other Slayers. Looking around the roof she finally found a loose tile, probably where Gajeel had landed after jumping there considering he was the heaviest. It was heading towards the forest and away from the guild.

Erza stood up from the roof and started sprinting towards the edge of the roof and launching herself off it towards the next one. She hit the other side with a soft thud and with one great crash was sent through the tiles and down into the apartments underneath it. As the dust settled she groaned and rubbed her head, shaking the stars from her eyes. She was just about to get up when she felt it, a presence, a presence that was so past evil that it terrified even the great Titania. Spinning on her right heel Erza drew her sword swung it at neck level taking off the head of a gory zombie. The things teeth clacked together and thudded softly to the wooden floor. Its body swung its arms aimlessly a couple of times, sending blood and puss everywhere before hitting the ground and convulsing like a fish on the floor of a boat before finally coming to rest. The mage stood in the middle of the room, listening for any other enemies that could be hidden within the recesses of the house. After a solid minute of silence Erza breathed a sigh of relief and resheathed her sword.

"Shit that was close." Erza brought herself up onto the windowsill and re-hoisted herself onto the roof to begin her trek towards the Slayers again. "Gonna have to be a lot more careful if I wanna survive this." Shaking her head one last time Erza restarted her run yet again and slowly but surely made her way across the town of Magnolia on the tiled roofs of old homes, shops and apartment buildings. Running and jumping across the town she felt free from all her worries for the first time in a month. She had been cooped up in the guild for so long that she had almost forgot what this kind of freedom felt like! It was almost supper by the time she got to the wall that surrounded the city and just before jumping down into the wilderness of the forest, took one look back out towards the guild. When she forgot about random packs of walking death that still haunted the town the sight of it was still quite beautiful. The roofs still shone with the sun, birds still flew through the sky above the town and the church still stood with the guild as the largest and grandest of the buildings in the town. Breathing in the clear air, Erza smiled once more and jumped.

To say that the jump was graceful would be a complete understatement of the word graceful. The landing on the other hand, would require words that are the complete opposite of the word used to describe the jump. All was going well until she hit the first large branch of the tree that was supposed to support her weight but just ended up momentarily haulting her fall before she hit the ground. That wasn't where her issues stopped though, there was one more problem to be had; a hill. Hitting the top of it and not being given any time to recover from the impact gravity did its work and brought her down with it. She fell and fell until finally she landed in a clearing at least a kilometre away from where she had initially wanted to land.

"Okay. No more jumping. No more dropping no more nothing. I don't want anything more to do with my legs today." Erza stood and looked around the clearing that she had dropped so ungraciously into while dusting herself off. There was a twig in her hair that needed pulling out and her battle skirt was torn in very bad places that would require immediate attention but before she could take a step she spotted something, or rather someone. He sat perfectly still in the middle of the clearing, white scarf wrapped around his neck and messy pink hair blowing lazily in the breeze that swirled its way around the clearing. His legs were folded underneath him and he almost looked like somebody who had finally found perfect bliss.

"Natsu!" the shirtless mage turned to look at her, panic and surprise streaking across his face before being replaced by a grin of joy.

"Erza!" Natsu jumped from his cross legged meditation and ran towards her. "Erza I can't believe it's you!"

"Natsu I...where have you been?" Erza started to move towards her old friend, blushing slightly. She had never thought of him as handsome but in the month he'd been gone his muscles had toned themselves and possibly even grown a bit. A sharp pain in her right leg brought her back to reality and Erza quickly went to scratch it. What she found was squishy, moving, and not the small bug that she thought it would be. Looking down Erza screamed at the agony of the zombies teeth held their death grip around the bottom of her right shin. Its eyes looked up to meet hers before clenching its jaws and sinking its teeth even further.

"ERZA!" Natsu brought his hand up and fired a hot flash of flame straight into the living corpse, burning it to a crisp in seconds without hurting the in-shock Erza. Roaring for help the pink haired mage caught his falling friend who could do nothing but stare into his eyes and repeat his name over and over again. Her face was pale with fear and mourning. She had found him. After a month of tears and death she had found him only to become careless enough to let her guard down. She could see his face, oh how she wanted to reach out and grab it, but her brain was shutting down. The shock was settling in and the haze of pain was slowly turning into numbness across her body.

"_Just my luck_." Her last thought evaporated into her mind as darkness took her.

"Erza I...oh gods Erza please no no no-" His eyes widening with sudden inspiration at an idea that might not work anyways, Natsu grabbed for the sword that sat in Erza's scabbard and pulled his arm straight back before swinging down and through her right leg; five inches below her hip. There was the wet sound of the blade going through the skin, meat and bone of the ligament as it was seperated from Erza's body. Throwing the sword away he grabbed what was left of her leg and ignited his hand, pressing it firmly against the bloody stump. The heat woke the girl from her feint and her eyes shot open at the same time as her mouth which let forth a bloodcurdling scream of pain. Her hands flailed and hit at him, her body deciding that he was responsible for what it was going through and trying to get rid of him. Holding back the rising bile that came with the smell of the bubbling, searing flesh in his hands as he cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding.

"It'll be okay Erza...I'll take you to her just, just please don't die. Please please please don't die." Erza didn't hear anything past that as darkness enveloped her mind and her brain once again shut itself down so that it wouldn't have to deal with any more pain.

Present Day

Erza had finally put the stupid leg back together and was sitting on the chair admiring it in the sunlight.

"_You know, it really isn't that bad considering what could have happened._" She smiled to herself before getting up and grabbing the spear from the floor, taking practise swings with it before going back to her cleaning. With one more swing she spun herself around and yelped when she saw the figure standing in the doorway. He was covered head to toe in gore, his face was grimy and dirty and his black pants were torn in random places from running through the bushes at full speed. The tears in his eyes were a dead give away to his feelings about the girl who stood before him and Gray could only get one word out before collapsing with exhaustion.

"Jellal..."

**The longest chapter so far reveals Erza's story and brings her face to face with an old friend, but not in the condition or in the way she had hoped for! What happened along the way and who was sacrificed for Gray to get this far?! Reviews and comments are welcome!**


	8. Preperations

Lucy didn't trust him to go alone. Jellal had continued to fight with her long into the night about how many people should go with him to search for the Slayers but finally, after much yelling and a broken mug, they had both begrudgingly agreed on him bringing two people along with him.

"It's not that large a group that it will attract a lot of attention but at the same time it'll be enough to handle most problems that you may come across." Lucy was looking over a piece of paper that had everybody's name and what they were best at, nobody else actually knew that she had it though. The same month Erza had left and Lucy had transformed into the leader of FairyTail, the girl had started collecting data on all of the surviving members from what weapons they used all the way to how likely they were to run in the face of a large swarm of enemies. Looking over the chart was like looking over the character list of some board game.

"If I'm being forced to bring people-"

"Which you are."

"Which I am, then I want at least one ranged person, somebody that can cover me when I use my spears." Lucy looked over her list carefully.

"I'm not sending anybody who had a relationship with any of the Slayers, the last thing we need is them doing something stupid like letting their guard down if you do happen to see them. Gray seems like a good choice for ranged,even if I'll have to listen to Juvia's bitching for the next three fucking days, but he is sensible and won't do anything too stupid. My main problem is the second person. I'd send Levy but with you heading towards Gajeel it might be better if I don't. I don't think she'd be able to stop herself from rushing ahead and getting herself killed or worse turned. You've got your spears as well, which I have marked down by the way, so your mid-range is good. All you really need is somebody with swords or hatchets or something for close range. For that I would send myself but I don't trust me to not drop my guard if I see Natsu either so I think that I'll settle with Reedus, even if he is kind of a chicken shit." Lucy went to rub at her scar before catching herself and going for the spot behind her ear instead.

"I don't have a problem with this, well except Reedus, I have a small problem with that but I guess I can live. I just don't know if they will. Like I said I have an idea as to where they are, I could be wrong and be walking right to my death." There was silence after that. The two were upstairs in Lucy's bedroom, sitting across from each other on chairs that had been brought up for their negotiations that had started off in the main guild hall.

"Alright well, it's just about supper now so we'll have you start off first thing tomorrow morning." Jellal nodded his agreement.

"Right. Supper then I guess." Jellal got up and moved for the door when two arms wrapped around him and held him to his spot. He didn't turn to give one back but instead stood where Lucy had caught him and hung his head down to his chest.

"I miss her as well. The whole time I travelled with Meredy and all I could think about was Erza. I know you feel the same about Natsu right now. This whole thing, from the haircut to the scar to the cut-throat attitude you've grown; it's a defence mechanism. It's so that nobody sees what's really going on with you, that you're just as fucked up on the inside as the world is on the outside right now. I'm gonna bring her back her Luce, and I'm bringing Natsu back with me." Jellal clasped her hands in his and removed them delicately from his chest. Opening the door he walked onto the balcony and down the stairs, leaving a crying Lucy in her room.

"So? How'd that go?" Levy looked up from sharpening her dagger as Jellal's cloak swept by her.

"Taking Gray and Reedus with me, we leave tomorrow morning." The other two mages raised their heads at sound of their voices. Juvia immediately started complaining, yelling about how "Gray-sama" shouldn't have to leave and go out into the world and leave her alone.

"Come on Juvia I'll be okay." Gray wrapped his arms around her protectively. "We still got one more night before I go." Juvia giggled, loving the promise of what would come later that night.

Flashback

"Gray-sama tonight has been so wonderful!"

"Damnit Juvia just call me Gray alright?" The Ice-Make and Water mage strolled hand in hand down the shop section of Magnolia. A warm night breeze swept down the street, ruffling the blue dress that Juvia wore and making a long strand of hair fall down onto her face. Flicking her head she watched it flip back into place while she kept walking on, what seemed to be, a dream come true. The night had started with dinner at a restaurant that had lasted three hours because of how long they had talked. At the end of it though it had been the owner of the resteraunt, who had been sincerely sad to see the young couple go, who had kicked them out for need of use by other hungry customers. While shooing them out though he gave them his personl card and asked them to call any time for reservations whenever they wanted them. Following the block they reached the river that ran through the town, passing by Lucy's house without realizing how close they had been to it.

"That's weird Lucy's window is open." Gray looked up at the top window with concern. "Damn that Natsu, dumbass doesn't need to go through there anymore." Juvia's hand protectively made its way up from Gray's and around his arm.

"Gray, please. This isn't about Lucy." Gray looked down at the girl in front of him and blushed suddenly. Standing in the moonlight with her hair down around her face and the light from said moon wavering off the water, it almost seemed like the Rain-Woman was a beautiful, translucent ghost next to the water. Plus with her blue dress cut low enough to show as much as possible without being naked, Juvia was the most radiant creature Gray had ever seen. Juvia, noticing him staring with such hunger at her, blushed and looked him over herself. The man was wearing his usual dress clothes; black pants, white shirt and an ice-blue tie that matched the colour of his creations almost too perfectly.

"Gray-sama I-" Her sentence was cut short by his lips pressed firmly against hers. Taking Juvia off guard it took a second or two to find her bearings but once she did she kissed him back with a strength she didn't know she had. Gray wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer making her gasp in surprise and open her lips just enough to let him slip his tongue into her mouth and the two stood for a good half hour, making out underneath the moon by the river.

"Thought I told you to just call me Gray."

Present Day

They lay on the floor of the girls' change room together, panting and sweating with arms and legs wrapped serenely around the others.

"Juvia I...I forgot to pull out again." Gray had to pause to catch his breath while grimacing at the nail marks that now covered his back.

"It's okay Gray-sama. It's okay." Juvia could feel his seed sliding from her body, mixing with her own juices but she didn't care to clean herself, she was to busy loving the feeling that Gray gave her while his member sat snugly in her still.

"Gray...you're coming back."

"Of course I'm coming back!" Gray brought her even closer to him and wrapped his arms protectively around her breasts, getting in a quick squeeze while they were out of a dress.

"I want you to promise be Gray. Please."

"Juvia. I am coming back. And I don't care what or who I have to kill to do so."

**The group has been decided and is ready to set out. With their last goodbyes the question on everyone in the guilds minds is the same; who isn't coming back? Reviews and comments are welcome!**


	9. Searching

**As I'm going to be busy watching the Canada-U.S. game tomorrow morning at a bar and will not have access to my laptop for most of the day I'm posting this chapter tonight. Hope you enjoy!**

The group left the next day just after breakfast to nothing but the sounds of their boots on the cobblestones and a softly crying Juvia standing at the gate. She didn't know why this feeling in her stomach wouldn't go away but something about all of this just felt off. It was to late now though, her love was leaving for what could be a couple days or forever and all she could do was wait for his hopeful return. Reedus was wearing his normal black pants and white shirt with a sword strapped on each hip. Gray was dressed in the same colours but instead of the pull-over shirt that Reedus wore he had his favourite button up with a brown leather quiver strapped to his back filled with arrows.

There wasn't much talking among the three men as they went on their way. Using the backstreets they got to Lucy's house fairly quickly under the watchful eye of the summer sun. Using that as a starting point they headed off towards the city gate that they needed to get to in order to get closer to where Jellal thought the Slayers would be. Reaching the gate with no resistance what so ever was pretty rare for what normally happened making all three of them feel very on edge as they continued on through into the wild.

"Where the hell are all the zombies? I mean we've never not seen any of them!" Reedus was watching the path around them worriedly as they moved from outside of the city and got onto the path that would lead to the forest.

"I don't know. It's kinda creepy though." Gray had his bow out and an arrow knocked ready to go for anything that could happen and was walking in the middle of the two with Jellal in the front and Reedus bringing up the rear. The weather was the same as it always seemed to be, clear skies all around. After walking a while longer they reached the end of the rocky outcropping that surrounded the outskirts of the town and were at the edge of the forest. Birds rustled the leaves and in the distance what sounded like the faintest whispers of hooves could be heard from deer heading to their next home. A couple hundred feet later Jellal suddenly stopped and drew one of the spears from his back, pointing the sharpened end down the road towards a cloaked figure kneeling in the middle of the path.

"Hey! Who are you?!" The figure didn't move as the boys fanned out on the road and raised their weapons towards the figure. Whoever it was was a lot larger than they were and was leaning over the body of somebody else, their back heaving in what looked like sobs.

"Guys I don't like this. We're really exposed here. If this is an ambush then we're definitely goig to be on the losing end" Reedus was assessing the situation, drawing the landscape in his mind.

"Guys, who is he kneeling over?" Gray was squinting and in frustration put his arrow away and grabbed an amber spy glass that was attached to his right hip. Bringing it up to his eye he quickly swore and almost dropped the spyglass, his face paling with every passing second.

"It's Lacki! But I thought she had gone looking for..." The figure raised his head, brown scraggly hair parting along his face and gruff beard parting slightly as he opened his mouth slightly.

"Gildarts..." The strongest mage in FairyTail was staring at them with wide eyes and shaking hands, muttering something to himself.

"I can't hear him. Gildarts! What happened to Laki?!" The group started moving closer to the man when he suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs and held the girl even closer to him.

"No more. No more! You monsters you can't have her!"

"Monsters? What the fuck is he talking about?" Reedus looked behind them and back down the long path to town but there was nobody there. "We're the only ones on this road but if he doesn't shut the hell up up we won't be!"

"I said NO MORE!" Gildarts' metal hand shot forwards towards the group without warning and blew up a rock beside them causing a small rumbling in the mountain as the attack continued through it.

"What the fuck! Gildarts are you out of your mind it's us! We're from FairyTail!" The only response was another attack that slashed a tree beside Reedus in half.

"He's lost his mind, take him out!" Jellal spun his spear around in his hands and threw it like a javelin towards the crazed mage with Gray firing his own arrow but before it got to him Gildarts let loose another wave of magic and the group watched in dismay as the spear turned javelin and its arrow companion disintegrated half way to its target.

"Well fuck."

"We gotta distract him and get around him and then go in for it. Gray! Fire some shots and get him to look at you. Reedus! Follow me, we're gonna cut through the forest and get him from the side. If he keeps firing off magic like that this whole place is gonna be crawling with fucking zombies before long." With the plan set out Gray started firing arrows at the crazed Gildarts while yelling at him, trying to get him to look his way as Reedus and Jellal snuck into the trees on their left to flank him.

"Gildarts what the fuck is going on man? Come on, talk to me!" A rock behind Gray disintegrated as he dodged another shot from Gildarts. "Why is Laki not moving? Where have you been?!" A tree this time, inches from Gray's head, was the victim of the next attack from Gildarts and Gray couldn't help but notice that as his distraction went on his opponents attacks were getting more and more accurate.

"I don't know if I'm gonna be able to keep this up for much longer. What the hell are those two waiting for?!" Gray knocked an arrow and let loose at his old father figure taking him in the right shoulder. Hollering in pain Gildarts' crazed eyes seemed to go red with rage and that was when Reedus and Jellal made their strike. A spear flew from the tree to his left and struck his metal arm making Gildarts turn to fire an attack at his unseen opponent. From the tree on his right Reedus came down with his two swords drawn, spinning in a circle like a helicopter blade while Jellal came down from his tree with another spear ready to strike at the same time. Gildarts didn't seem to know what was happening as he glanced up towards Gray, a sad mourning look in his eyes.

Reedus was two inches from Gildarts' neck when the mage spun in a full circle, tearing his cloak and bringing his metal hand up and around Reedus' throat. Gray, seeing what was happening, started running towards them with another arrow knocked and ready to go. With Reedus and Jellal that close to Gildarts, Gray knew that any shot he took could end up hitting one of them instead. Reedus panicked and swung both blades down but Gildarts moved with lightning speed and the only thing Reedus hit was a surprised Jellal; his blade drawing itself down from his right shoulder to his left hip. Reedus had time to see his handiwork towards Jellal before Gildarts sent a wave of magic through his arm into Reedus who abruptly exploded in a shower of gore and skin, covering Gray who was only ten feet away.

"Reedus NO!" Gray fired without thinking and nailed Gildarts right in the forehead between his eyes. A surprised look crossed his face before Gildarts' legs gave out and he hit the dirt, covering Laki with his body.

"Gray. Gray please." Jellal lay beside Gildarts, blood seeping through his dark shirt from the gash that Reedus had given him. "Follow the path. Her hut will be barely a kilometre away. Run Gray, run." Jellal coughed a small bit of blood onto Gray's face and barely kept himself from passing out as his friend got to his feet and ran, hoping to make it in time to get help for his friend.

**Reedus dead. Jellal hanging on to life by a thread. A crazed Gildarts and a dead Laki. What the fuck is going on?! Reviews and comments are welcome!**


	10. Finding

Erza screamed and ran towards her falling friend. She barely got her arms around him as he landed on the ground, unconscious.

"Gray! Oh my gods Gray what happened? Gray? GRAY!" The mages eyes flew open and he looked up at her with panic streaking across his face.

"Gildarts. Went crazy. Path from the city. Please hurry." That was all Erza could get out of him before the gore covered mage passed out again.

"Erza! We heard you screaming!" The Slayers followed by Porlyuscia burst through the open doors and crowded into the house. "Holy shit is that Gray?!" Wendy fell to her knees beside the Ice-Make mage and started looking over his vitals.

"He's not injured or anything, I think he's just in a kind of shock." Her hands were glowing as she applied her magic to Gray while giving the others his status report.

"Did he say anything before he collapsed?" Natsu looked over at Erza who was now standing and staring wide-eyed at Gray. "ERZA!" The red-haired girl snapped out of her daze and looked over at Natsu.

"Yes, yes! He said that Jellal was injured and laying farther down the road. Also something about Gildarts going crazy and-" Natsu was out the door before she could finish.

"Salamander! Wait!" Gajeel and Laxus ran out of the door after him and took off down the path towards Magnolia.

"Wendy, go with them. Jellal may need immediate assistance. I'll take care of Gray with Erza here."

"Okay." The Slayer leapt up quickly and sprinted out after the others while Erza picked up Gray and moved him to the one bed that was in the house. Porlyuscia started pulling out herbs and throwing them into a pot over the stove before turning to Erza.

"By the looks of that boy whoever they're bringing in is going to be even worse off than this one so make something up using the couch alright?" Erza nodded and set to work, tears already streaming down her cheeks as Porlyuscia started wiping away the blood that was covering Gray's face.

Elsewhere

It didn't take the Dragon Slayers long to find the carnage that had been wrought by the fight. Zombies were already making their way towards where loads of magic energy had been fired off by Gildarts in his crazed state and the Slayers had already taken quite a few out along the way.

"We've gotta hurry with this. Grab Jellal and get the fuck out before we have to many of these things swarming the place." Laxus had taken the lead of the group and as soon as they reached the centre of the carnage set up a lightning perimeter. Wendy found Jellal and kneeling in the bloody leftovers of Reedus, healing him by the time Gajeel and Natsu had gotten to them after taking out some straggling zombies.

"Natsu-san. We need to get Jellal out of her right now!" Wendy looked up to Natsu but it didn't seem that he was listening. Natsu was leaning over the body of Gildarts, rolling him over to try and find out what had happened. He didn't grimace at blood that came out as he pulled the arrow from his head, only sniffed it and threw it away before continuing his inspection.

"I don't get it. It doesn't look like he was bitten or anything, so why did he lose it?" Natsu looked up and down Gildarts and then moved to Laki who had been laying underneath the mage the whole time.

"He was insane. Kept yelling 'no more' and other stuff. He attacked us first; we had to defend ourselves." A dazed Jellal tried to sit up while Wendy was still healing him but the girl pressed down on his chest and glared at him.

"You're not going anywhere. This cut is really deep. How did you even survive this?" Jellal just laughed.

"I'm a tough son of a bitch that's how."

"Well no matter what I do this is gonna scar. Like really scar. We need to get you to Porlyuscia right away." Gajeel took the hint and picked the blue haired man up.

"Come on boy. I promise I'll be gentle." With that he jumped up into the trees and started off towards his home of two months. Wendy followed closely and Laxus was ready to close the perimeter and follow them but Natsu held up his hand and signalled him over before he could.

"Laxus! Come check this out." Laxus knelt down beside Natsu and looked towards where the younger Slayer was pointing to. It was on her stomach just under her left breast where Natsu had pulled her shirt up to for his inspection. It was a small mark no bigger than his thumb, red and sitting on top of the skin like a bad burn.

"It...it looks like a snakes head or something."

"Yeah but where did it come from? It was never there before..."

"That's a pretty high spot, how would you know." Laxus grinned mischievously at the younger boy.

"Not the time or the point Laxus. I don't know why but this is important." Laxus just shrugged.

"Check Gildarts!" The two turned and checked the same spot on Gildarts, again finding the mark.

"Now that's weird."

"Not much we can do about it now flamer. Let's get back to Porlyuscia's and figure it out from there." They both stood and started down the path, incinerating some zombies that had strolled up to them as they had been playing detective along the way.

Porlyuscia's House

"Gildarts, Laki and Reedus. Three dead in a day. I thought this would be a simple walk to where you guys were." Jellal sat at the wooden table with a bowl of stew made by Erza that was surprisingly good for what she used to make. The group was sitting in their own spots around the house; Natsu on the windowsill, Laxus and Gajeel in wooden chairs by the bed and Wendy on the edge of the bed itself with Erza and Porlyuscia beside the bed itself. He had just spent the last hour explaining his story and what had happened at the guild while Gray slept peacefully in the bed that Wendy sat on. Combined, Wendy and Porlyuscia had been able to heal the slash Reedus had given him well enough to just leave a scar. "So happy you taught her how to cook." Jellal made the joke to a much too serious looking Porlyusica and was rewarded with a pan to the face from a now pissed off Erza.

"Alright despite that, what was the point in finding us?" Jellal hoisted himself from off the ground and looked towards Gajeel.

"The horde that I was following. It's coming back to Magnolia. Zeref is hell bent on destroying FairyTail and everybody in it. I Zeref thought he had destroyed it from his last attack but found out that you were all surviving. I sent a message to Sabretooth hoping that they would be able to come in as backup and join together but so far I haven't heard anything from them." Jellal took a drink of water before continuing.

"The fact is, no matter what happens between now and the two weeks that it'll take that horde to get here, we need to prepare for it and possibly even evacuate to somewhere else."

"No. We're not evacuating. The guild is the only thing we have left." Natsu's words made Jellal smile sadly.

"Then the only option is to kill Zeref. And gods know how many casualties there will be if that happens. That and the mess that will have to be cleaned up afterwards." Jellal looked down sadly at the empty bowl that sat in front of him.

"It won't matter" Jellal looked back up at Natsu. "I don't care if it's my own life that has to be sacrificed when we fight Zeref. I'll kill him for this. I'll kill him for every one of us that his damn plague has gotten."

"That may be. But first we need to let the rest of the guild know you're still alive." Porlyuscia looked at the other Dragon Slayers. "I think that it's finally time to reveal yourselves."

**The time of the Dragon Slayers is finally here. How will the guild react when they show up again? The next chapter is the most anticipated moment of the story so far; the return of the Dragon Slayers (and Erza) to FairyTail! Reviews and comments are welcomed!**


	11. Homecoming

Lucy was on the verge of murder. Juvia hadn't shut up for the past two days and sooner or later Lucy was gonna put her sword right through the Water mages head. Since turning her body into water let off magical energy, the girl had had to forgo doing so when she got attacked making her much more vulnerable than she had ever been.

"But Gray has been gone for two days now! They promised they would be back by lunch today and they're not! Juvia has a bad feeling about all of this!" Juvia was following her around matching her step for step as Lucy went about the guild checking up on everybody and their chores that had been set out for the week.

"Freed! Mira! How's the provision count going?" The two looked up from their list.

"Good! We've got enough food to last us years but if we cut back juuuust a little we can get the rations out to maybe three."

"Good! Do that then! Levy, Alzack, Bisca; how's that catapult going along for the tower?" The three waved at her quickly and only Bisca had the time to give her an answer from the side of the catapult while her husband worked in the bucket of the seige weapon.

"Not bad Luce. We've almost got it." As she talked Bisca got distracted and accidently cut through the wrong piece of rope. There was the sound of something snapping and from the bucket Alzack's face went ghostly pale.

"Awe shit." The bucket sprang upwards taking Alzack with it. The poor man, much to the delight of his daughter who was playing a card game with Lily, was sent flying to the balcony.

"Sorry honey!" Bisca was trying and failing miserably to not laugh as her husband groggily made his way back down the stairs.

"Well hurry up and figure it out! I want that thing up and running by the end of the week." Lucy didn't even crack a grin as she kept on walking through the guild. She pulled nervously at the hem of her blue button-up top, hoping she wasn't forgetting anything while she wiped her other hand on her jeans.

"Cana, Wakaba has been outside for a most of the day now, I want you to go and relieve him of-" The doors to the guild slammed open and a hot breeze spun through the hall and around everybody, throwing papers and other materials everywhere. Gray, Jellal, Wakaba and Erza all entered the guild first and were greeted with gasps and odd looks, but that wasn't what everybody was staring at. The four parted and moved out of the way as the four cloaked figures made their way into the guild and lined themselves up along the wall to the right of the massive door.

There was complete and utter silence in the hall as the figures removed their purple cloaks; the same cloaks that they had all gotten at the Grand Magic Games and stood in front of the guild. There was silence for about five seconds as everybody took in the sight of the grown Dragon Slayers, especially Wendy who now looked extremely different because of her height and half-formed breasts, where as everyone else was more toned. Natsu was the first to try and speak.

"Um we're ba-" Lucy's sword buried itself to the hilt above Natsu's right ear. The Slayer went paler than Gray when he saw his girlfriend stalking towards him. The clothes were the same, blue jeans and a white blouse, but it was the scar that ran from her forehead down the middle of her left eye and to the corner of her mouth that threw it off. It still looked like it was healing to him but there was also the matter of her hair which was cut short to just above her ears. In Natsu's eyes she was still just as hot, if now in a more 'ready to kill him on sight' kind of way. Then she was standing in front of him.

"You STUPID good for nothing FLAME BRAINED dumb FUCKING SHIT! I am going to personally MURDER you and when you're dead I'm going to bring you back to life so I can murder you AGAIN and THEN bring you back once more so that I can cut off every piece of your body that you hold DEAR TO YOU and mount it on the wall over my FUCKING DESK so that you can see them and WISH you still had them and then KILL YOU AGAIN!" Finally running out of words and breath Lucy stood face to face with Natsu, panting and shaking from the effort with tears streaming down her face. Natsu didn't say a word but instead raised his arms and carefully put them around Lucy and pulling her into an embrace.

"I missed you too Luce." The guild blew up with cheers and laughter as the Slayers were swarmed. Cana and Levy both squealed and launched themselves from tables and into the arms of Laxus and Gajeel respectively, Romeo and Carla both hit Wendy at the same time sending her crashing to the ground and Mira practically ran over Erza while pulling her close and crying her eyes out. There was cheering and whooping and all around celebrations that lasted well into the night. Alcohol flowed freely and Lucy allowed for the largest feast that had had been seen in FairyTail for quite some time to commence in honour of the reappearance of their five friends. Happy, Gray and Natsu had a drinking contest and soon after Natsu started a fight with Freed that spilled out into the rest of the guild which Lucy normally would have stopped, but in this case decided to join in and ended up rolling down the stairs to the food cellar with Natsu while the others were busy battling Gajeel.

Throwing her boyfriend on the cobblestones Lucy tore her shirt from her body and brought Natsu's hands to her breasts, letting him play with her as she ground her body against his. Panting heavily Natsu flicked on his flames and burnt her bra off and before she could protest grabbed her nipple in his mouth and started suckling from her large, perfect breasts. Lucy gasped and pressed his head farther into it with her left hand while her right hand reached into his pants and grabbed his fully erect cock. Natsu groaned and suckled harder, his right hand playing with the other nipple while his left unbuttoned her jeans and and slid a finger delicately into her snatch. Lucy screamed at the sudden intrusion and looked down at him just in time to see the mischievous grin light up on Natsu's face and as she yelped in pleasure again, Natsu flipped her on her back and tore her jeans off at the same time.

"_Thank the gods she's not wearing panties_." Natsu didn't give Lucy any time to do anything as he pressed his cock firmly into her and started thrusting as hard as possible.

"Two months...two months without you." Lucy could barely talk under the onslaught that was Natsu's cock slamming into her after two months of not even touching herself.

"I missed you Luce...I missed you so much." Lucy screamed as she came, her walls pressing in on his cock from all sides as he kept pumping further and further into her. Natsu on the other hand didn't come for another two hours and by the time he did Lucy could barely feel her legs from the three orgasms he had given her. They fell asleep wrapped in each others embrace, sleeping peacefully until Mira came down to make breakfast and found the two laying in each others juices, a smile lighting up both their faces.

**The Dragon Slayers are back and the guild is in party mode! But what about Zeref and the approaching army? And what will happen when he arrives? Reviews and comments are welcome!**


	12. Talking

The next day could be described with one word. Hangover. Groans filled the guild as Mira passed around the coffee with a side of scoldings to the guild. The drinking to Gildarts, Reedus and Laki had gone on way into the night and early the next morning and by the time Mira found a way to sneak Natsu and Lucy up to her room it was already lunch time. Laxus and Cana snored loudly on her hammock, Levy was snuggled up perfectly into a purring Gajeel in theirs and even Wendy had fallen asleep with a partner that night, fitting nicely into the arms of Romeo with Carla sleeping on a hastily made hammock above both of them. Wendy woke from her hammock and rolled over to look at the purple haired boy beside her and kissing him on the nose lightly while smiling to herself.

Night Before

The two sat on the roof of FairyTail talking hand in hand while the party raged on underneath them. A full moon hung in the sky above them as they recounted what had happened the last two months that Wendy had been away. When asked about his father Macao, Romeo suddenly went completely quiet and stood up, turning away from Wendy with his head bowed.

"It was my fault. I wanted to go to the guild but Dad thought it would be safer to lock ourselves in our house. I didn't wanna listen so I went to leave and, well, Dad saved me." He didn't want to cry, not in front of Wendy. But out here on the roof the fifteen-year-old boy couldn't help it as the tears fell down his cheeks. He wiped them away quickly and turned back to Wendy, almost jumping when he saw that she had moved to stand only a few inches from him. With what had happened the last couple of months and the amount of physical labour that had been pressed on him, Romeo had grown in size and stature bringing him to the same height as Lucy and making it so that him and Wendy stood eye to eye.

"You shouldn't blame yourself Romeo." Wendy was suddenly very conscious of how close he was standing to her, and her to him respectively especially now that her breasts protruded out in front of her. She had also become aware of how much he had grown since she'd last seen him and could already feel her cheeks turning red.

"I know I shouldn't but I just can't. I mean I try and try but every night all I see is those things biting him and...I can't stop." Romeo was hitting himself on the inside. The moon was shining down onto Wendy's perfect blue hair in their perfect pigtails, outlining her face and eyes. The pit in his stomach was growing deeper and deeper and he didn't know why but for some stupid reason he was starting to shiver. He wasn't even cold! His body was moving for him now as he took a step towards her, clearing the small gap that was between them so that they stood mere centimetres from each other.

"Wendy..."

"It's okay." Their lips met. Soft and untried lips that hadn't been used like this before, the two stood there leaning into the kiss before instinct took over and their arms wrapped gently around each other. After a couple minutes a tongue was slipped and the next few hours were spent making out as only teenagers know how to. Some time later, when everyone had fallen asleep already, the two snuck back down to Romeo's hammock and quickly fell asleep together.

Present

Mira smiled to herself as the two teenagers awkwardly moved around each other while getting their breakfast. They didn't know that she had been up and preparing for the inevitable hangovers of the that morning but she had seen the two disappear to the roof last night and then sneak back down. She knew nothing would happen in secret in the hammock but she made a mental note to pull them aside and give them 'the talk' at some point over the next couple of weeks. Mismatched steps signalled the arrival of Erza from the her own hammock that had been set up beside Mira's.

"Morning Erza! How are you?" Mira put on her best smile for her old rival turned friend as she sat down at the bar in front of her.

"Damn leg is missing a bolt again. When Gajeel wakes up I need him to make me another one." Mira pushed herself up onto the bar and looked to where Erza was pointing at on her right leg. Nestled between a two plates was a line of three screws. The outer two were still there but the middle one was gone leaving a hole where it should have been.

"So the leg is made out of iron then?" Erza nodded.

"Porlyuscia and Gajeel spent a week figuring out how to make it and then when they did Porlyuscia added a small amount of magic to it to make sure that it never rusted or fell apart. This one bolt is the only piece she missed and, just because it's me, it's the only bolt that when missing will allow the whole leg to collapse. In other words I'll be sitting here for a while until Gajeel can repair it." Mira just nodded and collected the information into her vast pool of trivia involving the members of FairyTail.

"I'm sure that Lucy will take note of that and make sure that Gajeel makes plenty of spares. Oh, speak of the she-Devil." Mira giggled at her own joke as Lucy and Natsu made their way down the stairs from her room. "Good morning Lucy!"

"Morning Mira." Lucy smiled as she sat down beside Erza, much to the surprise of Mira.

"Would you like some coffee?" Lucy nodded.

"Absolutely." She swivelled to Erza. "I heard your story from Natsu just now, I'm really sorry about it." There were genuine tears forming in the blondes eyes as she spoke. She swivelled again to look out on the sleeping mages in the hall.

"GAJEEL!" There was a snort and a thump as the Iron Dragon Slayer fell from his hammock and looked around shocked. "I want one-hundred spare bolts made for Erza and I want them by supper time, got it?" Gajeel, still looking shocked, nodded and crawled back into the hammock beside a giggling Levy.

"The fuck happened to her." He growled.

"She's the leader now. I'm sure that Natsu will soften her up a bit but don't get your hopes too high." She rolled over to face him and cupped his cheek in her right hand to kiss him gently. From a hammock on the other side of the room Jellal pulled himself up and headed over to where Mira, Lucy and Erza were, groggily holding his head and hoping that the pounding would stop.

"I told you I could get the Slayers back." He sat down by Erza and grabbed her mug of coffee, taking a large gulp and placing it back before she noticed. "Now comes the second part. Preparing for the army of zombies that's on its way here." Lucy nodded thoughtfully as Natsu came out of her room upstairs and stood at the balcony looking down on the guild.

"I wonder if we can train them all to use their magic without being detected like us." He wasn't talking to anybody in particular but Laxus answered him from Cana's hammock below anyways.

"It took us a month and a half; we've got a week and a bit. No go kid." Lucy got up and walked to the middle of the guild as the other members started waking up one by one. When she reached the middle she turned back to the bar and smiled mischievously.

"It doesn't matter. We've always guessed that a horde would come back through here. You think you're the only ones who've been preparing?"

**Sounds like Lucy has a plan! What could it possibly be? And will it be enough to give them a chance against Zeref and his army? Reviews and comments are welcomed! **


	13. Breakfast

"I swear to god these stupid plans make no sense!" Natsu was sitting at Lucy's desk looking over the cities defence plans as his girlfriend got out of the bed naked. Stretching her long arms over her head she got up and walked naked over to Natsu, licking her lips and hoping that she could seduce him into having some breakfast today.

"Two straight days and you still can't figure them out eh? How about taking a break and doing something else." She wrapped her arms around him from behind and pressed her breasts against his back, filling his nostrils with her scent and making him instantly hard. Putting the papers down Natsu swivelled in the chair and grabbed her wrists while pressing his face into her breasts. She moaned as he flicked his tongue across both of them, slowly moving down her body while holding her hands to her sides until he went as far as he could and had to get off the chair to kneel on the rug. She moaned again as he teased around the entrance to her pussy before, in one quick lick, fired his tongue inside her and started to eat her out. Her moans turned to whimpers and before long she was screaming his name as he brought her closer to her climax.

"Natsu I'm so close! Natsu please more more more!" Bent to her wishes Natsu lifted her off her feet while he was still on his knees and threw her onto the desk where she fell onto her back and clamped her legs around his head, continuing to scream while pressing him farther in as he lapped at her deepest parts.

"Natsuuuuuuuuuuuu" With a final scream Lucy came into the waiting mouth of Natsu, creaming as he thrust two fingers in and continued to eat as she squeezed her legs as hard as possible around his head. Her nails left scratches in the desk as the orgasm faded away and she was left with pleasured stiffness as her pink-haired lover continued to eat. She would have let him go for days while she lay on the desk panting and holding her breasts with her eyes closed, especially knowing that he would be able to make her come at least another two times, but the breathless blonde opened her eyes to find Levy standing at the doorway in her yellow dress but curiously, with no pants on, smirking.

"You know Gajeel has tongue studs." Levy turned and swung her hips seductively as she left the room giving Natsu, who had stood up, full view of herself as she lifter up her dress by a couple of inches while walking to the stairs.

"Damn." Exclaimed Natsu. "You aren't the only one who's attitude changed in two months." His comment was greeted with a kick to the balls and with that the Slayer was back down on his knees.

"Stay on your knees for a few minutes while I get dressed, your mouth works better when you're on them anyways." Natsu just groaned from the floor as Lucy pulled her clothes on and checked out her scar. Wendy had healed it as much as she could yesterday so that now it was just where it would be for the rest of her life, pink and raised on the skin. "Not as graceful as Laxus' that's for sure." She pulled on her blue skirt and buttoned up her white top and walked out onto the balcony and down the stairs, greeting Mira at the bottom.

"Here's your breakfast Lucy! Natsu I had some prepared for you but by the sounds of it you've already eaten your fill" Mira gave the Slayer a wink as he looked down at his bowl of oatmeal, crimson colouring flushing his cheeks. "Maybe you should come show Freed how to do it sometime" Lucy glared at her and was about to say something when she was interrupted by a messy haired Freed who had popped up from the food cellar wearing a white apron and carrying a box of oranges in his left arm.

"You can complain all you want but my fingers have always done a lot more than my mouth ever could." He slapped her ass on his way through the bar and Mira give a playful squeak.

"Alright alright we get it you're all good in bed now shut up and eat, we've got defences to set up and weapons to organize." Erza looked up from her oatmeal and down towards the others sitting at the bar.

"What's the matter Erza, haven't gotten anything in a while?" Lucy smirked back at her and took a sip of coffee. Erza's eyes reverted away from Lucy to behind her for a second as her face turned as red as her hair. Lucy just snorted and put down the mug to continue eating.

"Hey if it's some you want I'm up for it!" Jellal popped up from the hammock beside Mira's and started putting a shirt on.

"Oh you poor amateurs." Alzack walked by with two empty mugs of coffee and placed them into the sink behind the bar.

"What you talking about Alzack?" The gunslinger turned to look at them and leant on the ledge behind the bar.

"All I'm saying is that y'all can compare as much as you want, but have you ever seen Bisca in a bad mood since she married me?" With a wink Alzack walked out from behind the bar towards his wife and child who were in the corner making sock puppets.

"Hmmmm may need to talk to Bisca and ask if she can lend him over sometime" The others turned and looked in a shocked way at Mira who had started cleaning the mugs while watching the married man stride away.

"Well that was enough information for today." Natsu got up and walked back up the stairs. "I'll grab the plans and somebody can show me what the fuck they all mean. Time to get serious."

**Yeah sorry this was really just a filler chapter. Got bored and needed some good sex and light humour to raise the mood, especially considering what I have planned. Reviews and comments are welcome!**


	14. Reinforcements

"So Magnolia has had all this shit the entire time and nobody ever decided to use it? I mean seriously I can think of at least two times where this woulda come in handy." Natsu was standing beside a large barrel that sat on top of a hastily made stone wall, one week since the Slayers and Erza had made their return. The wall went all around the guild starting at the lakeshore behind it to four blocks out, across another six and then back to the other side another four. The wall itself was a metre wide and when walking along it would come up to the waists of most of the guild members. Demolished buildings lay behind the wall where the stone to create the wall itself had come from. Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Juvia, Erza and Happy were all standing in the middle of the wall facing to the middle of town where they were sure the main force was going to come in from in just over a week. Two large barrels had been placed on the wall itself, standing about eight feet high and at least four feet in circumference on the inside.

"Well it couldn't have helped with Phantom Lord or Laxus being an idiot so I don't know what you're talking about." Natsu shrugged at Gray's retort.

"Fair enough icicle breath."

"Alright I don't care about when this shit could have been used so can we please get back to figuring out what else we can do?" Lucy ended the conversation quickly and precisely. "Right. So. I want the rest of the barrels placed out at regular intervals along the rest of the wall and-"

"HEEEEELLLLLLLP" The group turned weapons drawn to look down the block that led to South Gate Park. A single person was running towards the group, her long purple hair flowing behind her taking off the heads of a couple random zombies that had wandered a little to close for her liking.

"Is that Kagura?" The flash of a samurai sword swinging its way through rotted flesh and bone gave Erza her answer.

"Fuck. Natsu, Gray, Juvia with me. Erza, Happy; take to the roofs and follow from there, I have a feeling we may need to do some fighting today." The group nodded and jumped into action. Gray and Juvia knocked arrows and jumped down to the street with Lucy who had drawn her sword and Natsu who had his hands on fire. Erza vaulted off the wall and to wall of the house across from her, running her way up the last two feet of the wall to the roof with Happy on her back with a dagger in each hand.

Lucy and Natsu were the first to reach Kagura who had collapsed in complete exhaustion on the sidewalk beside two more decapitated zombies.

"Kagura! You're alive!" The girl looked up and smiled widely when she saw Natsu before throwing herself into his arms and crying.

"Three blocks over. They're all trapped. We tried to get here but so many are dead now. Please help them!" She buried her face into Natsu's bare chest as Lucy scowled at her menacingly.

"Alright. Erza! Happy! Three blocks! Meet us there!"

"Aye sir!" Happy called back from Erza's back as Erza herself started to run towards the edge of the roof they were on to clear the gap.

"Natsu, leave her here with Juvia. Gray follow us!" Natsu carefully unclasped Kagura's arms from around him and passed her over to Juvia before running after Lucy and Gray.

"Damn man, she's supposed to be the composed one!" Gray glanced over at him as they followed Lucy

"Yeah, well, things have changed you know?" Gray nodded.

"Fair enough."

"If you two are done gossiping I would really appreciate some help with the group of zombies that are currently trying to eat people that we know!" Lucy swung her blade and took the head off a zombie facing the other direction down an alley that the group turned into. About three metres wide the alley was packed all the way to the entrance with sounds of fighting and yelling at the very end of it.

"Gray! Fire over us and into the crowd, Natsu! Start us up. Erza, Happy, go to the end of the alley and help out the group down there!" Erza and Happy moved quickly to Lucy's commands and Natsu fired a huge blast of fire into the crowd of rotting corpses. The small horde turned slowly but it was to late for them to react as the team of Natsu and Lucy cut them down from behind. From the other end of the alley, Happy and Erza had started a counterattack with the group that was trapped. It didn't take long for the entire small horde to be wiped out completely with both Erza and Natsu being able to use magic without the zombies being attracted to them. In under five minutes Natsu and Lucy had fought their way to where Erza and Happy were and were introduced to the group that they had worked hard to save.

"Lucy! Natsu! Oh thank you thank you thank you!" A hysterical Sherry dropped what looked like a homemade crutch and threw herself into Lucy while her fiancee Ren shook hands with Natsu and pulled Sherry away from Lucy and into his own arms.

"Natsu. Lucy. I've memorized that beautiful attack. Rufus came up to the couple and bowed deeply, taking his signature hat off with his right hand and sweeping it as low as possible without touching the ground before bringing it up his left side by the scythe that sat in that hand. "It's good to see you as well Gray." The two shook hands and turned to look at the last of the survivors.

"Glad you could join us." Hibiki still had the black vest and pink shirt that he'd had on at the Grand Magic Games, his brown hair messy and blood splattered. He was holding a homemade club made from a tree branch, same as all the others.

"Glad y'all could make it this far. I hope to hear your stories when we get back." Lucy turned around and started towards the entrance to the alley. "Oh and by the way, we have _actual_ weapons back at the guild for you to use.

At the Guild

"You know we're gonna have to get them people set up in the infirmary. There's no room down here in the main hall." Natsu nodded his agreement and stood up to walk up the stairs.

"It's alright Natsu, Wendy and Romeo are already up there so I'll get them to help me set it up!" Mira had already gotten to the bottom of the staircase by the time Natsu had stood up.

"Wendy and Romeo? What are they doing up there?"

"What teenagers do best!" Mira smiled mischievously and made her way up the steps.

"Well that was more information than I needed. Kagura!" The sword master looked up from her coffee at the end of the bar.

"Yes Natsu?"

"I wanna hear your story."

"Alright then, better sit down."

"I want to hear it as well." Lucy pulled a chair from one of the leftover tables and straddled it beside her love. "Now hurry up."

**A couple very helpful reinforcements have arrived and not a moment to soon! How did they get there and what travesties did they face while on their way?! Reviews and comments are welcomed!**


	15. Intersection

She couldn't scream. She couldn't gasp, she couldn't shriek, she could barely breathe. She could do absolutely nothing except watch from the tree branch that she was crouched on and let the tears roll down her beautiful cheeks as the horde swept itself over her friend Millanna. The poor girl on the other hand was allowed to scream and shriek and she did so with all the force her lungs were capable of as the zombies tore at her skin and bit at her limbs. After what felt like hours to Kagura the screams finally stopped and the horde moved on into the building where the rest of Mermaid Heel lay defenceless. Kagura propped herself agains the tree and waited silently, hoping that the horde would move on quickly so that she could make her escape. She didn't want to do this but she had been given no alternate choice. Her master had told her to get out and under no exceptions come back to save any of them. Of course Kagura had refused but the master had called upon her honour as a mage to do as her guild master bid her. With tears in her eyes Kagura had jumped from the roof and into a tree that stood beside her guild. The screams of terror and pain that came out of the guild as Kagura sat in her tree crying silently and waiting.

After hours of agonizing waiting the horde had finally taken care of the rest of Mermaid Heel and moved on. Climbing down slowly the mage looked back at her home one last time before heading on through the trees along side the path, careful to avoid the gazes of random packs of zombies that had fallen behind the main horde and walked aimlessly along the road in random directions. She walked and hid for hours until there was light coming from the road behind her in the East. Haggard and worn she climbed her way up a tree and using her belt tied herself to the tree and fell into a deep, troubled sleep.

More screaming was what finally woke Kagura. The sun was setting in the West as the mage opened her eyes and hastily drew her sword, panting and sweating from the nightmares that haunted her dreams. The scream came again from down the road that Kagura had been heading down the day before but this time closer and in some way more intense than the first one. Without thinking about it Kagura slashed the belt that held her to the tree and dropped like a cat to ground, landing delicately before running at full speed down the middle of the dirt road towards the screams. What she found was not only heartbreaking but unexpected.

It was where the road turned into an intersection and headed into three opposite directions, one road led to the guild Blue Pegasus, one towards Sabertooth and the other towards Magnolia where FairyTail was housed. There at the forks, surrounded on all sides by a horde of decaying bodies, stood Hibiki, Eve, Ren and Sherry fighting for their lives with clubs made from tree branches. Sherry was leaning on one such branch while trying to swing her club at one of the living corpses and screamed again as a wave of pus came crashing from the hole she left in its skull. Taking long purposeful strides Kagura swung her katana and took out three of the things without any effort and soon was going on a straight rampage through them towards the group that stood in their midst. Eve met her as she cleared the ring of death with a swing of his club into a zombie that had slipped into her defences, splattering more blood onto his beige shirt.

"Glad you could join us!"

"Of course you are." She didn't care for the boy, she just wanted some companions on her walk to who knew where.

"Well you've at least got a real weap-" Something grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled. Before Kagura could react the young man was gone, dragged into the swarm for the feast that would be their breakfast. Sherry screamed his name, Ren tried to force himself to where he had disappeared and Hibiki just kept fighting with a ferocity that even scared Kagura. Calming her breathing Kagura swung her katana and helped dispatch the rest of the zombies who, realizing that the appearance of Kagura had shifted the balance of the battle by a fair bit, had started to retreat away slowly. Not slowly enough to escape the blade of Kagura though and soon the road was covered with decapitated, decaying and pulpy heads with their bodies close by twitching oozing blood and pus. A still crying Sherry hobbled painfully over to Kagura and hugged her from behind. Ren and Hibiki moved slowly through the dead bodies to where Eve had last been seen, kneeling over the only bloody mound that lay on the ground with hair. Hibiki threw up first when Ren poked the hair upwards to expose the half eaten face of the young man.

"Where were you heading?" Kagura allowed Sherry to continue hanging on to her while she spoke towards the open road that headed towards Magnolia. Ren answered as Hibiki continued to unload his breakfast onto the road.

"To where you came from; Mermaid Heel. We got here and were debating on whether or not to head to Magnolia instead when these things attacked us." Ren sent a kick out into the body of a zombie making it twitch.

"Guess that answers that question then doesn't it." Kagura spun with her sword facing outwards as a new voice spoke up from the path leading to Sabertooth. The feather on his hat and the blonde hair underneath it bloody and unkept, his mask gone revealing his dark green eyes and his red cloak covered with dirt, Rufus stood with a scythe in his right hand in the middle of the dirt road looking like flamboyant version of the Grim Reaper.

"We head for FairyTail."

Present

Lucy and Natsu sat silent as Kagura finished her story.

"So where did Rufus come from?"

"Sabertooth. Same kind of thing as me, escaped while everyone around him died. Picked up the scythe on the way out from some suit of armour apparently." Natsu nodded in contemplation.

"Alright, well, I'm off to bed then!" Lucy turned to her boyfriend in amazement before realizing that the sky outside was pitch black and most of the guild were already in their hammocks. She hadn't realized how long the story had taken to tell as even Mira had gone to bed, holding Freed in her arms while the green haired mage used her breasts as a pillow.

"I believe I'll follow you if you could show me where my room is."

"Sure." Natsu turned and went up the stairs with Kagura on his heels.

"Coming Luce?"

"Um no, Natsu not right now. I need to think for a bit." Natsu shrugged and kept walking up, giving his girlfriend a worried until she was lost by the wall that stood outside their room.

"Alright Kagura that door down there is-" She kissed him. Taking him off guard she pressed him into the wall and pushed her breasts as hard as she could into his chest. There was a moment, a small spark between them as they stood, before Natsu's shock wore off and he pushed her off of him. She was about to go for it again when his hands lit up in flames.

"Do that again, and I'll burn you like I did those zombies."

"But- but I thought."

"No. You didn't. So don't do it again." He stormed off into Lucy's office leaving a smiling Kagura standing alone on the balcony.

**I feel like I've kind of strayed from some of the horror/gore of the first chapters of the story so this chapter was definitely a nice throwback to that I think. The new arrivals are settling in and it's time to get ready for Zeref's return! Reviews and comments are welcomed!**


	16. Planning

"We got it we got it!" Alzack shot down the ladder leading to the roof of the FairyTail guild and landed with a thud on the floor, his brown poncho ballooning out before settling back around him.

"Alzack what the hell are you yelling about!?" A wild haired Gajeel yelled at him from Levy's hammock.

"The catapult! Two days of problems and we finally just launched a boulder!"

"Great! Now fuck off and let me sleep!" Giggles were heard around the room as the Iron Dragon Slayer rolled over in his hammock and started snoring again.

"Well fine then, jerk." Alzack strode confidently over to the bar and sat proudly as his wife came whizzing down the ladder just behind him with a squealing Asuka joyfully riding on her shoulders. Putting the girl down on the floor the two walked to the bar where Mira handed them a mug of coffee and orange juice.

"I'm glad you two got it!" The white haired mage kept pooring as more and more of the guild started waking up.

"Just in time too, the army gets here tomorrow." The celabratory smiles that had lit up Alzack and Bisca's faces quickly died as the seriousness of what was coming hit them once again.

"Well it _was_ cheery in here."

"We'll make it through. You know we will. With the Slayers back we'll have no problems taking out this army." Bisca's reassurances made her husband smile, if only briefly.

"Better day than never to take a break then eh?" Bisca, Alzack and Mira looked up the stairs with a hopeful look in their eyes as Lucy and Natsu came down the stairs together.

"I really wish I didn't know you were joking." Mira glared at the blonde as she sat down at a stool, rubbing her scar and fixing the sword scabbard that sat on her left hip.

"Yeah me to but oh well. Romeo! Wendy!" There was a moment of silence before two small heads poked out from a hammock on the far right wall.

"I want all our weapons brought up from storage to the main hall by lunch. Got it?"

"Sounds good Lucy." The two teens jumped from the hammock and ran hand in hand to where the weapons were stored in the basement.

"Those two are getting really cozy really quickly." Natsu watched the two as they ran by, disappearing down the stairs with giggles being shared between them.

"Oh come on, they're teenagers. It's good that they have each other." A messy haired Lisanna sat down on the other side of Natsu and looked over at him. "You remember being that age don't you?" Natsu blushed and Lisanna giggled while Lucy smiled at the two friends.

"I'm glad you're up Lisanna. I need you to take Jet and Droy back to the police station and look over it. I need to know if there's anything that we missed."

"Sounds good." Grabbing Natsu's coffee Lisanna drained the mug in one gulp and strode off to Jet and Droy's hammock, happy to be up and moving after weeks of mourning.

"Natsu, can you do me a favour today?"

"Sure Luce, what?"

"It's Kagura. She's acting strange." Natsu gulped. Did Lucy know what had happened?

"She's been through a lot you know."

"Yeah but this is way past that. I want you to take her for a walk around the wall and check to see if she has that mark you were telling me about" Lucy looked her boyfriend in the eyes, daring him to tell her no.

"There's only one way to get her to let me see that far."

"I know. But I'm trusting you as a Dragon Slayer and as my boyfriend to not get carried away." There was love in the way she said it, but also a very understood threat.

"And if we're wrong? What if you're just paranoid?" Lucy sighed.

"Then do what you have to do to get out of it. But right now I need to know. If she isn't then fine but if she is then it could screw up everything." Natsu nodded his agreement.

"I'll get on it." Standing up the Dragon Slayer kissed Lucy on the forehead and headed up the stairs to get Kagura from her shared room with the others from her party.

One hour later

Natsu shifted uncomfortuably in his open chested jacket as Kagura bent over to examine the barrel that he had pointed out to her. She was wearing tight black pants, very tight pants, and the Slayer was having troubles forgetting about the kiss she had given him the night before. He did have to admit that she was beautiful, though not even that word could express what he felt. Lucy was good but Kagura was new, she was something taht he had only just tasted.

"So this is part of the defence plan eh?" Her white coat had moved up to show him a side view of her waist as she looked at the fuse attached to the barrel.

"Um, yeah. Yeah that's it." Natsu sniffed the air, the house beside them was empty. "Kagura there's something we need to talk about but, but not in the open." The mage smiled to herself and looked beside her to the house that the wall passed beside and the small window that was placed so conveniently a couple feet below the lip.

"Well then let's go somewhere more private." Without any hesitation she swung down off the wall and swung in through the window, shattering it to pieces with her boots and landing with a soft thud on the carpet of the room inside. Gulping Natsu walked calmly over to the bed and pushed her onto her back, inspecting her body. Her long legs spread, her thin waist with a four-pack of abs sitting on top, her breasts perfectly formed laying against her body, everything was perfect. Except for one thing. One simple little mark underneath her left breast. Natsu's breath tightened and too late did Kagura realize what he had seen. Screaming in frustration the girl went to jump from her bed but before she could get anywhere Natsu's fire snaked around the bed, trapping her in flames while he jumped outside them for safety.

"That was the same mark that Laki and Gildarts had! What is it?!" His question brought a smile to the girls face.

"It is the mark of death. It is the mark of him! It is the mark that makes you his slave and the mark that puts you under his control!" The crazed girls eyes were growing wider as she talked, her speech growing more frantic.

"Who gave it to you! When did you get it!" The girls eyes widened as far as humanly possible and suddenly changed colour. Going from their normal hazel her iris' elongated and with her pupils causing a snake-like look to befall her. Then she decided to speak.

"She fell assssssssleep in a tree." The voice was like a snake except grated and hollow. Natsu held his ears in pain but that couldn't stop the voice from penetrating him to the core. "She isssss mine. She wasssss to deal a death blow to your group, but now she issss exssspendable!" Kagura spit into the fire that surrounded her and threw her head back laughing. The mark that tainted her beatiful, naked body had turned black and the blackness was spreading across it covering her skin. When it reached her mouth the girl screamed in agonizing pain as it flowed down her throat. Natsu just stood watching, not sure what to do. His flames were still crackling around Kagura when she finally went silent and fell naked and back to normal on the bed. Natsu didn't have to check if she was dead or not, there wasn't a heartbeat to hear anymore.

Back at the Guild

He made his report to Lucy. Natsu had taken the sword from Kagura and brought it with him leaving it on the desk that sat between them while they talked. While reporting he got some surprising news.

"We investigated Rufus. The same thing you just explained happened." Natsu choked on the water he was drinking and had to wait until he could breathe again to give a response.

"Him as well eh? Shit that could have gone badly."

"Tell me about it. Wendy pretended to need to give him a check over and as soon as he took his shirt off we saw the mark. Gray froze him to the spot but he started spouting all this weird stuff in a voice that really irritated Wendy."

"The same voice that Kagura used no doubt. Man what are we gonna do?"

"Who cares? We move on, we finish this." After a few minutes Natsu finally asked a burning question.

"What do we do with the sword?"

"Already thought of that." There was a knock at the door. Wendy opened it slowly and came into the room, her pigtails bouncing along against the back of her blue dress.

"You wanted to see me Lucy?"

"Yep! Here you go." Lucy got up and grabbed the sword from her desk. Moving behind Wendy she brought the strap down over her body and across her chest, leaving the sword strapped to her back.

"Lucy I- I don't use weapons."

"I don't care. It's for your own protection...just in case." Natsu nodded his agreement before getting up and ruffling her hair.

"Don't worry Wendy. I doubt you'll get the chance to use it anyways."

**A possible betrayal stopped in the knick of time and a gift for Wendy. Only one chapter left before Zeref and his army reach Magnolia! Promises are made, goodbyes are said and some will hold their loves for the last time. But in all this is romance budding? Reviews and comments are welcome!**

**A/N as a side note I just released a new one shot called "Natsu fell". I would really appreciate some feedback on it, thanks guys**


	17. Night

**I'm having surgery done tomorrow so I'm gonna be conked out all weekend so here's to uploading a chapter two days early!**

"What's the matter Shrimp?" Gajeel stood by Levi as she muttered to herself about the defensive plans for the next day.

"Nothing, nothing I'm just- I just don't know about all of this." They were sitting at the bar together late in the night. The candles Levy had been using were stumps now and the flames that had been burning so strongly were finally seeing their end appear.

"Come on Shrimp you know it'll be okay."

"How can you be so sure?" Levy turned and looked at her love. He was in his usual attire, black pants and a black muscle shirt. His buffed arms and diamond face held the iron studs that were just a part of him as she was.

"Because I'm here. And that's all we need." He flashed her his grin and before she could help it the tears were coming down her face. "Oh come on Shrimp don't do that." He wrapped his arms around the small girl and held her as she cried softly, hoping against hope that she wouldn't see his own tears starting to form.

In the corner of the Guild Hall

"Why can't I help!" A teary eyed Asuka was complaining to Bisca as she was put into her smaller hammock beside the two's own.

"Because Asuka, this is adult work. You'll be with the Exceeds in the basement while all of it is going on."

"I don't wanna be in the basement!" Bisca and Alzack sighed deeply as they crawled into their own hammock.

"We know sweetheart. We know."

Lucy's Office/Room

Natsu held Lucy close while they lay in their bed. She had fallen asleep muttering how she loved him and his warmth while using his chest as a pillow. He was happy to see her sleeping so peacefully, the whole day she had been running around and throwing out orders and had almost forgotten to eat anything before going to bed completely exhausted.

"I love you Luce." He wasn't sure if she heard him or not but the blonde mage in his arms smiled anyways and shifted slightly, exposing her scar to him. That scar. Natsu had the sudden realiziation that, while he hated himself for not being around to stop it from happening, he didn't actually know how she had gotten it. It seemed to be a kind of taboo around the guild; nobody mentioned it and nobody thought about it. But he would get the one who was its cause, that much was certain. Laying there with his love in his arms Natsu made himself a promise. He would kill Zeref; he would avenge his fallen family.

Beside the Bar

"You know I'll be fine."

"No I don't and that's the problem."

"Freed please." The two lay whispering in their hammock together. Mira in her bra and panties with Freed in his boxers. They knew they needed their sleep if they were to get everybody their breakfast and coffee the next day but the nerves of what was coming wouldn't settle down.

"Just, if things start to go wrong I want you to run alright?"

"Freed I'll never run. I'll never abandon this place." Mira was getting angry with him. She loved the man but damn could he be stupid sometimes.

"I know hun just, stay safe." Freed squeezed her closer to him. This was somebody he never wanted to lose. Mira was something he _wouldn't_ allow himself to lose.

In the Girls Washroom

"Again Juvia? Jeeze what's the problem?" Gray stood beside her as Juvia threw up yet again into the toilet in the girls bathroom.

"Juvia doesn't know. It might just be nerves."

"Well I hope it's just nerves cause I need you tomorrow." He cringed as the girl bent her blue haired head low and threw up again. At this rate it was going to be a long night.

"Why do we have to be locked in with the kid?"

"You know exactly why Happy. We'd be of no use out there in the open." Lily was still trying to talk sense into Happy who was pacing back and forth on the floor of the infirmary.

"We can still fight! We can ride on peoples backs and run around!"

"Happy no! We aren't useful in the open. It sucks but that's that! Plus what would happen if something was about to happen to us. The chances of somebody getting hurt while making sure that we're okay are to high." There was silence as Happy pondered his words. "Plus if it all goes wrong, somebody needs to be here to protect Asuka." Happy finally gave up arguing. He wiped angry tears from his eyes and shook his fur. His torn ear twitched twice but after that the blue cat hid his frustration, it wasn't needed right now.

On the roof of FairyTail

"Will it hurt?"

"I don't know."

"Please Romeo, please say it won't"

"Sure Wendy. It won't."

"Alright. Go then...ah-"

"Wendy I'm sorry are you-"

"No. No just...slowly."

"Okay."

"Romeo?"

"Yes Wendy?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

**One last reprieve before all hell breaks loose! With 3 chapters left before the story ends, hope y'all survive! Reviews and comments are welcomed!**


	18. Battle

It was a wave. A stinking, rotting, diseased, death filled, hobbling wave. The wave grunted and it groaned and it ground forward through the streets of magnolia. Most of the individual parts of the wave were intact enough to hobble, one or two scratched their way on bones and other pieces of their body but all had one single destination- FairyTail. A loan shape floated in the air above it, directing them to the destination with steely black eyes and crossed arms. His black cloak flowing around him, his hair dishevelled and falling over his eyes, the air around him exuding death and destruction. This was Zeref. This was the mage, no, this was the God of death. In the light of the blue sky and shining sun the God seemed pale, as if his skin had started to lose its blood.

"ON MY MARK!" Lucy's voice cannoned through the silent air, peircing the majesty of the decaying army. Atop the guild two bodies- Bisca and Alzack- ran frantically around their catapult, loading the final pieces and making sure that everything was where it needed to be. Behind the middle wall that faced the main force of the army Cana, Gray and Juvia readied their bows with an arrow knocked into each. On the wall itself stood the main battleforce of FairyTail with their own bows and arrows, the only reason the other three were behind the wall was incase the zombies got to the top for if that happened then the main force would need help picking off stragglers that got past them. The Dragon Slayers readied their magic and on the side walls where only three people had been stationed each- Evergreen, Jet and Hibiki on one side, Droy, Sherry and Ren on the other- held their position in stationary guard. Most of the houses behind the wall were missing their walls making many collapse over the course of the week that they had been removed. Only one or two still stood now, leaving a large 4 block by 6 block courtyard between the wall and the fence that sorrounded FairyTail. Discarded roofs and rubble were all that marked the remains of said houses and shops. The army was now a block away; its stench filling the road and the noses of the defenders.

"FIRE!" A volley of piercing arrows was sent raining down on the armourless heads of the zombies causing casualties right off the bat. Fire, lighting, iron and wind bullets all rained down from the heavans along with them as the Slayers let loose their now undetectable magic. From a top the guild the sound of wood creaking and smacking together reached the ears of the mages and a giant rock was sent over their heads and into the mass of bodies down the street. Without a consciousness to stop them the zombies kept their awkward march towards the wall where the remaining members of FairyTail were making their stand making a satisfying squishing sound as the boulder landed on at least six and rolled onto another four of them. This continued for what felt like an hour. The arrows rained down from the wall and into the soft flesh of zombies, boulders crashing down the street with them and blocking up the way at the end and bursts of elemental Slayer magic following up the arrow. Eventually there were so many boulders at the very end of the road that the rest of the army couldn't even get through as all the side streets and alleyes had been blocked in using leftover stones from the building of the wall.

"Sneaky Fairy's. If only it were going to be that easy." Raising his arms the mage pushed forcefully towards the wall and within seconds a rumbling started resounding across the town. The members of Fairy Tail were fighting to keep themselves upright and still continue to fire. On top of the guild there was a shout of surprise as Bisca was almost sent falling down to the courtyard below.

"What the fuck?!" The street in front of Lucy and the others started rising, as Atlas himself had come up from underneath it and was trying to pick it up on his shoulders.

"He's...he's raising the fucking road!"The army just kept moving, oblivious to the fact that the very ground they were marching on was raising upwards into a slant, as the road was turned into a ramp, groaning and shuffling towards the members of FairyTail who just moments ago had thought themselves safe.

"Shit. Shit shit shit! Lisanna, Freed, get to your positions!" Lucy was still firing her bow at the oncoming horde while the Slayers fired their magic down the ramp.

"Gray could turn this into an-"

"We don't have time to get him up here just get the fuck off the wall now!" Lisanna nodded and jumped down from the wall along with everybody else but the Slayers and their partners. The stinking army was getting closer now, shuffling slightly faster at the scent of fresh meat.

"Lisanna, Freed, now!" There was a seconds pause of silence before the sound of crashing timber reached the ears of the Slayers and their mates. From the two corners of the wall four massive barrels had been pushed over, two for either direction, and a stinking heavy liquid came crashing out of them, flowing like magma to fill the walkway of the wall.

"I hope this works Luce." As the liquid got closer so did the army of zombies but the Slayers held their ground until each was only a couple feet away before finally jumping backwards off the wall.

"Natsu!" The fireball shot from Natsu's hand and ignited the black liquid just as it collided in the middle of the wall where the mages once stood. The army of zombies had reached the wall at that moment and the sound of sizzling flesh and searing muscle was all that could be heard while the army of corpses kept marching into the blazing fire that incinerated them instantly.

"Holy fuck that worked." Natsu stood in amazement watching his girlfriends plan roll work perfectly against the army. A roar of anger sounded from the figure above them. The defenders looked up and saw Zeref float down to just above the wall, his eyes going from black to red with the anger that coursed through his veins.

"ZERRRREEEEEEFFFFFF" Natsu launched a fireball with so much heat that it left part of the hair on Lucy's arm gone right towards the evil mage but all Zeref did was smile and wave the attack away and smirked at the shocked looks left on the Fairy's faces.

"Nothing but trouble. You people are nothing but freaking trouble and I'm sick and tired of it." A rumbling had started. The mages were knocked to their feet as the rumbling grew louder and the stones that held up their wall started to crack. The cracks grew and the rumbling grew louder until with a sound louder than thunder the wall with all its burning oil came crashing down to the ground, dousing Evergreen with the burning black liquid and causing her to scream pain before being crushed under debris and rotting bodies. Zeref laughed maniacally while all around the open area the defenders just stood, motionless and dread filled as Zeref's army poured down through the opening towards them.

He was still laughing when a fist of flame hit him from the side and sent him crashing down into his own army. Natsu followed the punch with a Dragons Roar that incinerated almost half of the army that was still trudging through the street in his fury. The fireball that enveloped the Slayer followed him down to the hole where Zeref lay silently while the other Slayers finally got their wits about them and followed him into battle against the dark mage. The other members of FairyTail shook themselves awake and, with the catapult still firing and Erza screaming for them to come together, charged head first into what would most likely be their last battle.

**The end begins! The wall has crumbled, almost half of the army has been destroyed by Natsu's fury and the Fairy's are making their final stand! Reviews and comments are welcomed!**


	19. Death

The Dragon Slayers turned out to be a much larger help than expected with the zombies considering their goal was killing Zeref. Most had assumed that they would be busy with Zeref but because of the wide ranged attacks being sent his way, most ended up going right by him and taking out large clumps of enemies. Because of this added chaos the defenders very quickly found themselves on the winning side, if only against the zombie army anyways. Jellal, Lucy and Erza quickly found a rythym to their fighting with Erza and Jellal firing their spears outwards and impaling an attacker with a gut-wrenching sqelch followed by a quick decapitation from Lucy while Levy stayed close by cutting in and out of random knots of the undead. Not far from them stood Juvia and Gray firing arrow after arrow into the heads of multiple zombies and slothly making their way around the giant area picking up ammo from their fallen assaliants.

Warren could be seen darting between zombies flashing his nagitana every which way and sending limbs up and around like a chef in a kitchen. Levy spun in circles with her hatchets glinting evily off the light of the sun above her, screaming at the horde that had gradually made its way farther and farther into the courtyard. She spotted Jet and Droy fighting for their lives and went to help them when she realized what was happening. There was nothing she could do for them now as a pack of the evil things broke off from an attempt on Lisanna's life and ambushed the two between the group that they had been fighting. A tear streamed down each eye, one for each of her friends as they were torn apart in bloody clumps. She couldn't bear to watch any more though and soon found Romeo by her side as they charged head first into the things that were at that moment eating her friends.

The battle between the Slayers and Zeref raged on overhead Lisanna's halberd was flashing in all directions, cutting down swaths of enemies in streams of blood and limbs. Cuts covered in dirt flanked her body stinging with the sweat that was mixing into her veins with the dirt, she barely noticed the large shadow looming behind her. Yelling with frustration she turned and swung the halberd with all her might into the ribcage of her brother Elfman.

She screamed and let go of the shaft, falling backwards to the ground crying. His eyes were bulging from his skull, his skin hanging loosely around what was left of his once muscled and formed body. The thing that was once Elfman took a step towards Lisanna groaning and reaching for her. The terrified girl screamed again and shuffled away on her hands as fast as possible only to bump into the legs of something soft and squishy. It was the rest of the horde. One last scream was all that came from the white-haired girl as the flesh-eaters led by the rotting carcass of Elfman decended upon her for their feast. There was a single moment, just as one of the things tore out her throat with long dagger-like nails, when everything was suddenly clear. When while looking up at the sky Lisanna saw him in a pure white light high above the world. It was Bickslow, smiling down on her and holding out a hand towards her. There was no pain anymore, her brain had shut down the nerves in her body and with just enough concsiousness left Lisanna reached out for her love, ready to be carried away from the dreadful world she called home.

The feast didn't last long. Up in the sky Laxus rained lightning down onto Zeref, taking out the knot of zombies in the process. All that was left to mark the grave of the dead Fairy were the ashes of her and her killers. In the air Natsu on the other were throwing everything they had at the mage. Fire and Iron combined for an attack that would have sent anybody else to their grave only to roar in frustration when Zeref reflected the attack into Laxus who had been coming up behind him.

The frustration grew even more as Natsu went in for a hand to hand fight with Zeref. Smashing into him with fists and legs hardened from years of training did nothing to slow the dark mage down. He kept up with every blow that Natsu threw at him and threw one of his own just as quickly. The two became a blur and for a few moments the other Slayers had to stop their attacks in fear of hitting their team mate while he was attacking. Suddenly though the fight changed pace and Zeref was able to get his hand on Natsu's right leg. Spinning where he floated he sent the pink haired Dragon Slayer flying downwards into cobblestones, breaking half the block with the impact.

"You idiot Slayers. Is that the best you can do!" It was Wendy who responded. A tornadoe of wind nailed Zeref in the chest and knocked him into a house. Following up the attack Laxus fired his strongest bolt of lightning into the house while Natsu rose into the air on wings of fire and hovered above the house, his body being enveloped by flames of anger and hatred for the mage. Gajeel had enough time to fire his own Roar into the house where Zeref had landed before Natsu, now resembling a large fiery Phoenix, came down from the sky and incinerated the whole house and every dead creature in the surrounding area with one large fiery blast, effectively finishing off the army of zombies. The ground forces of FairyTail cheered and rallied to take out the last pockets of undead killers that were moving towards them. The Slayers landed beside the house and watched in awe as Natsu came walking out from the house, his face set in a stern glare and his scarf flapping around him. He stopped when he was in front of the other Slayers, his muscled from sihouetted by the burning flames behind him.

"Well that wasn't difficult." He flashed his signature grin at them before his eyes widened. The smile crept away, a small trickle of blood started to run down from the right corner of his mouth to his chin. Shock replaced amusement as he looked down to see the wooden stake that now protruded from his stomach.

"Heh...oops." Lucy, who was only half a block away, screamed as Natsu fell forwards into the arms of Wendy who quickly started to try and heal the wound while Laxus and Gajeel charged towards Zeref who now stood where Natsu once had. Gajeel and Laxus both threw a roundhouse kick towards the dark mages head in an attempt to stop the master of death. These attacks though were promptly grabbed and the Dragon Slayers was sent flying in opposite directions though leaving Wendy crouched over the body of Natsu; the stake in one hand and her other glowing blue on his chest. The hole that should have been there was gone now. Wendy was thanking her training with Porlyuscia for her quickened healing abilities. If she had been at the level she was before all this the Slayer would most definitely be dead right now.

"Annoying girl." Wendy flew backwards from the blast that Zeref sent out and landed sprawling fourty feet away. Zeref stalked towards the girl like a panther on its prey as she tried to rise but, finding her legs useless, yelped in pain and fell back onto the pavement. Gajeel got to the dark mage first but with one swift punch was thrown too far away for another attack. Laxus was next bringing storm clouds into the sky and sending them down onto Zeref.

"That will not be enough Slayer." When the bolts touched Zeref they turned black and pulsed back through the clouds and into him. Laxus howled in agony in collapsed, his skin turning ashen grey while Cana shrieked his name and sprinted towards him. The last one was Erza who had, upon seeing what was going on, broken away from Lucy and left her with her bodyguard Levy and Jellal. Twenty feet from Wendy, who was still trying to get up, Erza stepped between her and Zeref.

"Titania. Even you can not stop this death." There was a creaking sound before Erza's right leg blew up in a flash of hot iron and heat. Yelping the Scarlet mage fell to her left knee, kneeling for the agent of chaos as he strode past her. When he was no more than fifteen feet from Wendy he stopped and raised his hand toward her. Crying fresh tears the young girl looked up from where she knelt to stare into the eyes of her killer.

"Pleade for you life girl." There was no remorse or sorrow in Zeref's voice.

"No." Wendy hated that her voice wobbled and shook as she defied the order.

"Reckless until the end. All Fairy's are the same." His hand turned black. Dread filled the space around him. Wendy stared directly into his cold black eyes and a single ball of darkness emerged from his palm and streaked towards her. All Wendy could do was cry and close her eyes as dread filled her heart. This was how it ended. The feeling of dread finally turned into any icy grip over her heart that flowed out into the rest of her body like frost in the morning. This was how Wendy Marvell died.

**One chapter left. Reviews and comments welcomed**


	20. Finality?

The cold receded. One second it was there and the next...gone. The Suns warm rays filled her and she heard from far away a wind that was settling over Magnolia.

Wendy creaked her eyes open to see why. When she did see she didn't know what to do. For some reason as soon as she looked her brain turned off; unable to fully comprehend what it was she was seeing. After a minute of silence her brain made up its mind and told her to scream.

His scarf had fallen around his feet. The ends of his white sash fluttered in the breeze around the brown sleeveless trenchcoat that went down to just above his knees. His arms were splayed out with his legs to form a star, sheilding her from the attack. Romeo turned at the sound of her voice, his skin a deathly grey like those of ashes in a fireplace. He looked into her eyes before speaking.

"I'm sorry Wendy." He gave her a small smile. Not the toothy care free smile that he had always flashed in times of laughter and love but a sad, grown-up smile that personified all that was wrong in the world with one simple movement. Then it started at his feet. A strong wind blew from the East and swept his shoes away in flakes like leaves in the fall. As the wind got stronger his shins followed and soon all that was left was the upper part of his body topped by his mess of dark purple hair and the smile that he was giving Wendy just below it. His torso and arms disappeared with his guild mark just as quickly along with his neck and finally, with one last gust, Romeo's smiling face crumbled into the air. There was silence. The zombies had been finished off, everybody in the guild who was still alive were moving towards the spot where Zeref now stood alone. The wind blew again moving Wendy's pigtails behind her back as she knelt. She couldn't speak. She couldn't move. She couldn't feel. There was nothing left inside her but a pit. A pit in her stomach that she had hoped would never appear there. She just stared into where his hopeful and fun filled eyes had once been. Zeref stood there with a bored look on his face before speaking.

"Interesting." Zeref raised his hand again to attack but before anything could be done he heard the wind. It wasn't strong, in fact to anybody else it probably wouldn't have been heard, but it was enough to make him widen his eyes when Wendy suddenly disappeared. There was another small whoosh of wind as something streaked by him so fast that he almost didn't notice the displaced air going by him. There was a small flick on his kneck, he barely felt it at first but after a few moments he was finally able to acknowledge that something was wrong.

"Shit." It was his last word. A small red line, no wider than the edge of a piece of paper, made its way across the middle of his neck. Nothing moved. Nobody breathed. Wendy stood behind him facing his back, her head bent downwards as tears fell from her chin, Kagura's sword in her right hand and her pigtails moving in a breeze that only seemed to be around her. Natsu was the first one to her. Nobody else could have seen what she had done but he had awoken just in time. He came from behind and wrapped his arms around her while turning her around into a hug. The sword dropped at the same time that Zeref hit his knees with his head hitting the ground beside the sword. The rest of his body fell two seconds later with a soft thud leaving the courtyard in complete deafness. There was the sound of thunder in the background when black specks started rising from the ground and into the sky.

"Hey Salamander. Look." Gajeel had finally made his way over to the pink-haired Slayer and was looking at the countless number of bodies that lay beheaded around the courtyard. The bodies had turned black and were dispersing and flaking into the air one by one.

"Killing him got rid of them."

"Good thing for that catapult, look at the size of his force." Two blocks away, hidden behind apartments, was a rising black wall. Billions of particles were making their way into the sky making it look as if the whole West of Magnolia was hidden behind a black curtain.

"He didn't even get half of his army through."

"We would have been fucked." Lucy was walking over to them with a gore covered Jellal striding beside her before heading towards Erza and propping her up on his right shoulder.

"Do we have a dead count yet?"

"Unfortunately." A tearful Wakaba was beside them now adding his voice to the growing pack of mages that were making their way to where the Slayers stood. "Lisanna was swarmed, Ever was crushed, I'm not sure but I think that both Jet and Droy went down protecting Levy." Levy appeared from behind Lucy, nodding her head in confirmation.

"Past that I have no clue. Even if he didn't use the whole army there were still a good amount of zombies in here. We need to start looking for anybody still alive." All save Natsu- who was still holding a crying Wendy to his chest- dispersed outwards into the massive space to inspect the still bodies that lay around it. Levy and Lucy found Hibiki crying over the bodies of Ren and Sherry, the two had been crushed when the wall had collapsed leaving them to die from shock and blood loss while the others fought for their lives. They couldn't console him with anything other than they had died together; holding each others hand until the very end. Gray had lost an eye during the battle but had gone into shock and was laying unconscious on the ground with a blood splattered Juvia trying to do as much as she could to stop the bleeding. With that news Natsu had finally been able to console Wendy into helping with anybody that had been wounded. The girl didn't say anything while she did it though. There was no happiness left in the girls eyes, just the mourning mask that everybody else in the guild wore though now she wore Romeo's orange scarf around her neck.

Alzack and Bisca came down from the roof to help with the search after seeing what Wendy had done to Zeref. They were the ones who found Cana kneeling by the ashen grey body of Laxus. He had died when Zeref had hit him through his attack but the girl was there because she had nowhere else to go. Alzack knelt on her right, Bisca her left and together they wrapped their arms around her and brought her into a hug between the two of them. The warmth of the two caused more tears to fall from Cana's face and soon all that could be heard was the torturous wailing that came from the young woman kneeling in front of her dead lover. Something caught Bisca's eyes at that moment, something on Cana's lap. It sat on her left hand, a ring with a small diamond in the middle that was glinting off the sun. Bisca felt her own tears start now at the sight of the ring and noticed Alzack looking at it as well with a single tear coming down from his right eye.

Across the courtyard Lucy and Natsu stood talking to one another with, a red-eyed Wendy silently following them with her sword now back in its scabbard resting on her back. They were looking down the road that the army had come from to the park as they conversed, arms crossed thoughtfully as they planned the next moves for FairyTail.

"We got lucky. That's literally the only reason we're alive."

"We always get lucky. It's always has been the reason we stay alive." Natsu pondered her words for some time before speaking.

"I checkd Zeref's body. It didn't smell right. It wasn't like when we were on Tenroujima."

"And?"

"He had the same mark Luce. Something was in his head just like Kagura and the others. I think whoever it was gave him the power to do all this and then set him loose on the world from there." There was silence between them when the stopped and looked over at where Cana knelt with Alzack and Bisca comforting her.

"So this isn't over then."

"I'd guess far from it. If anything whoever did this is probably gonna do something even worse next time. The problem is all we can do is wait until they do and react accordingly. Until then though what should we do?" Again silence.

"Rebuild. That's the job. Until whoever actually did this reveals themselves we wait. These things have died with Zeref meaning that for now we're safe. We need to get out there and try to find any other survivors that are possibly out there." Natsu nodded his agreement before heading towards the guild to start making plans for the rebuilding; Wendy trailed close behind him. After a couple of feet though he stopped and looked back at her.

"Gray's inability to pull out is about to be an issue by the way. Juvia doesn't know yet but I thought I'd warn you." He quickly walked off again without looking back. Lucy stood shocked, processing the news. Sighing and running her around through her short blonde hair Lucy stood by herself for a while before following him. She didn't know whether this was the beginning of something good or the beginning of the end. Right now though, she needed to work on rebuilding her guild. Right now she needed to work on starting FairyTail's next chapter of history. She knew it would be difficult, but she didn't know how it could possibly be more than what she'd already gone through.

Elsewhere

A figure cloaked in purple stood at the entrance to a cave. His sharp long tongue shot outwards into the air before receding quickly back between his thin lips before he spoke, his raspy voice like sandpaper across wood."

"Failure Masssssssster. Failure is what the dark mage brought ussss." A low rumble came from the depths of a black cave at the words being hissed into it.

"Failure was always a possibility. He underestimated the Fairy's. That was always his mistake." The voice was deep as the oceans of the world and rolled through the darkness like the tides that made their home there. The darkness moved and for a second the glint of black scales could be seen in the sunshine before disappearing once again into the abyss of sickly night.

"What do we do? The Fairy'sssssss will ssshhhhhurely figure out who it wasssssss!"

"They know nothing about you. They will never make the connection."

"If you sssssay ssso."

"I DO!" The mountain shook with the fury of the voice shaking loose boulders and trees that had made their home their for ages. "Now go away and let me sleep! I need to think." The hooded thing bowed and started away into the forest, leaving his Master alone. In all his years there was one rule he had learned very quickly; anybody that angered Acnologia did not survive for much longer.

**And with that the story closes for now. There will be more when it's written though when it is written is still very much in the air but I can and will guarantee a part 2. Reviews and comments are of course appreciated. Thanks y'all!**


End file.
